SSBM: The Endowment of Exigency
by hacktheworld1991
Summary: A group of villains threaten the Universe with a new power. Five smashers are chosen to embark on an epic adventure to stop them, but the quest isn't as simple as it seemed. Multicrossover. Detailed summary in profile. R&R!
1. Chapter 1: An Unknown Enemy

Hack: I finally decided to start writing on again! Why? Because I think that I'm a whole lot better at writing than months ago (though I haven't been writing fanfics for a while, so I'm a bit rusty…), and Super Smash Bros. Melee still remains my favorite fanfiction to write. After reading some excellent pieces of writing, some silly and some serious, I was finally inspired to start writing again! Yay!

All reviews are accepted, though if you're going to flame me, I'd appreciate some sensible criticism about what's wrong so I can improve. )

All right, here's the story… It's only the beginning, and I hope it's not too cliché… Enjoy!

And something _in italics_ means it's either someone's thoughts or it's the past.

I don't own any rights to SSBM or any other video games in this fanfic, including: Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Metroid, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Earthbound, Starfox, F-Zero, Golden Sun, Kid Icarus, Chrono Trigger, Pikmin, Fire Emblem, Retro Games, and the list is endless. There are also a couple joke references to Seinfeld (because it's awesome). I don't own that either, clearly.

It's all rated T for some language and some violence... actually there's lots of language. Beware.

And if you happen to review this fanfic, please, please, PLEASE don't spoil anything in your reviews! Especially what happens way later. It'd be a disappointment to those who read the reviews before reading this story. I'd appreciate it lots!

So... Enjoy!

* * *

**Prologue: The Two Hands  
**

Three years ago, the Fight of the Universe ensued on an deserted, hidden world made just for fighting called the Final Destination. The consequences of this fight would have been catastrophic if the heroes of the Nintendo Universe had lost, and the universe may have been destroyed. Of course, the heroes prevailed in this eternal fight, destroying these villainous monsters of great power with their unique abilities.

But exactly _who_ was in the fight, and _why_ did it start? What exactly happened in this eternal fight?

Two entities came into existence years before this fight, and to everyone's surprise, they were white, gigantic, and simple hands. As silly as that may sound, they possessed great power, enough power to destroy an entire world in matters of minutes. With a snap of their fingers, they can destroy an entire city. They can crush anyone that they grab with their fingers. They can read other's minds at will through psychic powers. What did they want? What most villains in most games, movies, and series want: world domination.

But no, it wasn't _exactly_ world domination; rather it was the domination of the universe. Indeed, the universe is much bigger and much more important than one single world; comparing a world and a universe is like comparing a miniscule molecule with the entire solar system.

But who were these entities? The Master Hand and the Crazy Hand. Their target? The Nintendo Universe.

Their presence was so powerful that just their mere existence in the universe already had dramatic impacts on various worlds: the mushrooms of Mushroom Kingdom began to melt into nothing, the lush, green grass of Kokiri Forest transformed into ugly saping weeds, the happy white clouds of Pop Star transformed into eternal dark storm clouds, wild Pokemon in Kanto began to viciously attack all trainers, and unknown aliens invaded the peaceful town of Onett regularly. Quite a drastic change, one must say.

Luckily, the heroes of the worlds made an answer to these changes. As the entire universe was in danger, the heroes of the universe, rather than heroes from just one world, would be the ones to fight the Hands. They all knew something was obviously wrong with their worlds and sought to find the source and destroy it. These heroes left their worlds in search for the source of these problems, but these journeys resulted in them meeting each other. Noticing that the problems weren't in their worlds alone, they traveled to other worlds, meeting other heroes and heroines. Finally, twenty-six heroes, heroines, villains, and creatures have gathered together after finding the hidden world of Final Destination, nicknaming themselves the smashers of melee. Most were human, although some others were animals, puff-balls, pokemon, and eskimos. After much journeying through the universe, they found their source of the universal problem right there in the Final Destination: the two hands.

Immediately, the biggest fight for the universe ensued. The hands were no pushovers at all, and it seems like they were easily defeating the smashers, one after another. However, the hands weren't immortals, and they grew tired, thus weakening them to a great extent. They were outnumbered twenty-six to two, and if the two were tired, they wouldn't be able to take on even five. Eventually, after days upon days of fighting, the hands were finally defeated by the smashers' superb teamwork, and the smashers rejoiced. They decided to build Final Destination into a recognized world (although extremely small) and took those days to get to know each other; some became instant friends (Link and Luigi), and a couple became friendly rivals (Captain Falcon and Fox). All of them became friends with each other in general, but with a couple clear exceptions. They would hold tournaments for them to fight each other, whether it be one on one or a free for all battle. But as time flew past, the time to return to their home worlds arrived.

After one year, the smashers left the new mansion they built called the Smash Mansion one by one, saying farewells to their other friends that they had made. They agreed that there would always be a couple smashers that would stay at the mansion, however, to make sure the hands do not come back. Every now and then, the groups of smashers of about five would switch places.

Whenever people watch over their foes to make sure they don't come back, they usually do. Ironically, the hands never return. Instead, a new threat comes to threaten the universe once again… and instead of twenty-six smashers saving the universe together, it will only be five…

* * *

**Chapter 1: An Unknown Enemy  
**

The Battlefield was a perfect place to train with others to improve their skills. It was a somewhat small purple field, with three smaller platforms hovering above the main platform. No interference from arwings, 2-D tools, or apples, no interference from items, and no interference from moving objects. That way, nobody can have a stage advantage, or win from raw luck.

A three stock match between two smashers ensued on this stage. Fox stood on the left platform, his forehead sweating. He looked at his damage meter on the melee screen suspended above the stage, which showed with green letters a hundred twenty four percent damage next to Fox's name. _Shoot… Another big hit and I'm going to lose my second stock…_ He glanced at his opponent, the taller and cockier Captain Falcon, who was on fifty-seven percent damage according to the screen. Because both smashers lost only one life each, and Fox was clearly at a damage-disadvantage, Captain Falcon was evidently winning. _I never thought Captain Falcon got this much powerful since the last time we fought... must've been doing a bit of training.  
_

Captain Falcon, who was on the other side of the stage but on the main platform, looked up at Fox. He gave a thumbs up. "Look, Foxy! I'm going to completely rape you in this match! Just look at all that sweat on yourself! You're practically pissing in your pants in fear of defeat! Just admit defeat and end this pointless match already!" he taunted. Captain Falcon was a very cocky, arrogant person on the outside. He was always overconfident and optimistic, which sometimes gave him an extra edge in fights, but as one knows, overconfidence can also lead to risk of death. He also hit on almost every women that comes by, but his flirtatious behavior only led to being blown up, particularly by Samus.

Fox smirked back. "No way. I'm not going to throw off this match for you. Remember that we're tied 127-127 games before our month of self-training, so I don't think you'd have a better chance of winning than I do. If anything, I'd have a better chance of winning than you!" Fox was definitely more sensible and mature than Captain Falcon, but he was also more sensitive, so he tries to hide his true feelings more often than everyone else. He is a very confident person (though not overconfident like Falcon), and would never lose a game without a valid excuse.

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Captain Falcon. "You're seriously keeping track of all our matches? I think I remember that I won more matches than you!"

"I'm pretty sure that you didn't; I have a good memory," replied Fox. He then smiled. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get it on!"

Captain Falcon blew his tongue at Fox then quickly sped towards him. He jumped towards Fox and stuck his knee out. Fox, reading him like a book, side-stepped Falcon's assault, and grabbed him from behind. He quickly threw Falcon behind him and pulled out his blaster with great agility. He quickly shot two shots at the sailing Falcon, and then jumped towards him. Falcon regained his balance in midair and the moment Fox lifted his leg in midair to kick him above, Falcon thrusted his legs down on Fox. Caught by surprise, Fox grunted as he was spiked downwards, losing another stock. (spike: connecting an attack with a recovering person to send him down, making that opponent lose all hope of recovering.) Falcon swiftly performed a Falcon Dive and returned to the edge of the stage when Fox reappeared on the top platform, at zero percent.

"How do you like that, Foxy?"

"I would've been very impressed if it wasn't the millionth time you used that spike on me. But I can't complain since I always fall for it…"

"Damn straight, I'm the bomb that will kick your ass. All the gals will love me for that."

Fox dropped through the platform, facing Captain Falcon. "I hope you're prepared for this then!" said Fox. Fox predictably sped towards Falcon. Falcon short hopped towards Fox (short hop: jumping extremely low so an aerial attack can be used near ground level. You push the X or Y button and let go as fast as possible.) and used his spike again to hit Fox. However, Fox immediately rolled behind Falcon. He immediately slid across the floor towards Captain Falcon in a standing position (called a wavedash: You airdodge diagonally into the ground to slide across it, then you can attack out of it immediately), and used his reflector to shove Falcon a couple feet. He immediately performed another wavedash, landing right beside Falcon before he could react, and reflector-ed him again! He repeated this combo until his reflector lightly knocked Falcon off the stage. Fox swiftly slid off the stage, and performed one final reflector assault on Falcon.

Falcon was pushed away from the stage at a downward angle, and he was barely far enough to reach the stage. Not giving up, Falcon performed another jump and was about to use another Falcon Dive when Fox fell towards him and reflector-spiked him again! Falcon was immediately spiked down and away as Fox swiftly returned to the stage with his Fire Fox.

As Captain Falcon reappeared on the top platform, he said, "Wow, that was really really gay, Fox…"

Fox grinned. "That's what I call my infinite shine combo. Care for another demonstration?"

"Try me. You can't beat the unstoppable Captain Falcon!" He dropped through the platform, and kicked Fox with two quick consecutive kicks. He short hopped and performed a flip kick to send Fox towards the edge a bit. Captain Falcon quickly landed and used his short hop, flip kick combo again on Fox. Once Fox was off the edge, Falcon jumped off the stage and performed his spiker.

Immediately, Fox used his Fox illusion to grab the edge of the stage while Captain Falcon remained in mid-air, still vulnerable. Fox used this time to quickly hop off the edge and kicked Captain Falcon behind him. He landed back onto the stage, facing the racer who was trying to get back to the stage. Noticing that Captain Falcon would be able to grab the edge if uninterrupted, Fox quickly wavedashed off the stage and grabbed the edge. For Falcon, defeat was almost unavoidable, but he never gave up. He used his Falcon Dive to attempt to return to the stage, and would've been able to grab the edge if Fox wasn't already hogging the edge. Since Fox was edge-hogging, Captain Falcon was unable to do anything as he plummeted off the stage, ending the battle.

* * *

Fox and Captain Falcon reappeared in the portal of the battle room, panting heavily. Fox was obviously happy about the fight, since he had won. Captain Falcon sighed, frowning.

The Battle Room was one of the key highlights of the Smash Mansion. It was where two to four smashers could set the stage, items, and type of battle they can have, then entered a virtual world to fight. For fun of course. A screen was on the wall above the control panels of the battle room, where other smashers could watch the current fight while sitting on the comfortable couches and sofas. A large, wooden table was placed in front of these seats to allow anyone to brig refreshments and snacks. The spectators for the fight were Samus and Luigi.

"Wow, Fox! You were on fire! That was a great match!" exclaimed Luigi as Fox and Captain Falcon shook hands. Out of the five currently in the mansion, Luigi was the most rational, reasonable, and sensible one besides Jigglypuff. He never lost his temper except in extreme conditions. He did not seem like the best fighter, but he does not like fighting as much as most of the other smashers, so he usually tries to reason himself out of a fight if possible. Some, particularly Mario, joke around and call him a peace-freak.

"Yeah, it took out a lot of me, but my new combos that I was practicing really paid off," said Fox. Captain Falcon scowled.

"Geez, that infinite shine thingy really threw me off… I was darn surprised! But don't get cocky, I was holding back. I've got my own new combos that you haven't seen yet! And I'm pretty sure that they'll catch your attention!" He immediately winked at Samus.

Samus glared at him, then, by instinct, shot a powerful super missile at his feet. Captain Falcon shrieked as he was sent flying upwards 30 feet and fell down with a thud. Since he makes it so obvious, it was public knowledge that Captain Falcon loved to 'show off' to girls, especially Samus since none of the smashers has seen her without her suit.

On the other hand, it was also public knowledge that Samus was a young, hot-tempered lady who loved to blow things up. Anything that made her angry prompted her to blow up whatever it was, and her most common target is apparently Captain Falcon. She was a mysterious woman, as none of the smashers could actually see her face apart from the piercing eyes she gave when she was angry. She hides her feelings and intentions very well, more than Fox. She didn't talk much either.

"Geez, Falcon, if I had a penny for every time Samus blew you up for trying to flirt with her, I'd be damn rich," joked Fox.

"Huh, if I had a penny for every time Bowser and my brother fought, I'd be ten times as rich as you would be, Fox," replied Luigi. Everyone chuckled.

"Well if I had a penny for every time I OWNED Fox with my sexy skills, I'd be a hundred times as rich!" Falcon bragged. Everyone was silent.

"...No. You just killed the joke, Falcon," said Samus. Falcon grumbled about not being funny.

"Might as well head to the kitchen, see what Jigglypuff made for dinner," said Luigi. The other nodded as they exited the battle room through the door. Fox, the last one to leave, turned off the control panels and the lights before he left. The moment he closed the door behind him, a shadowy figure appeared in the battle room.

"Heh heh… Let's see what this place has to offer…" it said as it turned on the control panels and fiddled with it. "Now where is the source..."

* * *

The Smash Mansion was indeed a magnificent mansion. The living room was without a doubt the largest room in the mansion, fit to have over 50 people conveniently, even if they were all as big as Bowser. The living room was lit by orange and yellow lights emitting from the huge chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling. A plasma TV set sat by the wall, in front of several comfortable and fluffy sofas and couches. On the other side of the room were two grand doors, obviously the entrance to this beautiful mansion. A rectangular marble table rested in the midst of these ornaments. Four plates with lasagna and a glass of varying drinks lay on this table. The four smashers walked into the living room as Jigglypuff turned on the TV set on Fox 5.

"Hey, Jiggly," said Luigi. "Mmm, lasagna… gotta love it!"

Jigglypuff responded with a smile. "Thanks, I also set up each cup with your favorite drinks. Enjoy!" Jigglypuff was probably one of the kindest smashers you'd find out of the 26, if not the kindest. She was also a great close-range fighter, though highly underestimated for her small size and cutesy-appearance. However, she is found many times crying in some hidden room within the mansion, though nobody knows why. Clearly, they never discuss it with her because it'll only sadden her. The only person that seems to know her problems are Pikachu and Pichu, though they never discuss it. Mewtwo seems to have an influence in it too, but he never says anything about it.

"Hm? There's one missing. Aren't you going to eat, Jigglypuff?" asked Fox as he sat down beside the cup with Sprite, his favorite drink.

"I already ate while waiting for you guys to finish battling. I need to clean up all of my cooking in the kitchen anyways… Made a big mess there while making lasagna." Jigglypuff was a very good cook, but she was quite accident-prone and pretty clumsy all the same.

"You sure you don't need help?"

"No, it's ok. Just enjoy eating while watching Seinfeld," replied Jigglypuff as she cutely smiled and walked off to the kitchen. Sounds of the dish-washer running were heard from the kitchen, followed by the sound of glass shattering. A quiet "Oops" could be heard too.

"Eh, she's always like that," said Captain Falcon as he chomped down on his dinner. "It's no big deal."

Everyone was silent as they all watched Seinfeld on the TV, occasionally smiling or chuckling from the humorous jokes. Samus slightly lifted her visor each bite/sip she took, which was the most of her face that any smasher ever saw. Luigi vigorously chomped down on his lasagna, one of his favorite foods, and Fox took spoonfuls at a time for each bite rather than each handful.

Unable to stand the silence, Captain Falcon yelled out, "Man, this show's boring!" he lied of course, as he loved Seinfeld, but he wanted some sound from everyone else at least. He couldn't stand silence. "Why can't somebody do something right here right now?"

Coincidentally, the lights went out. The TV set went out like blowing out a birthday candle, and all was dark.

"Oh, nice job Falcon. You've cursed us!" joked Fox.

"Hey, it was a coincidence, damn it! Even I know what a coincidence means, and I'm using the word correctly, damn it!"

"Damn it, and that was my favorite episode," cursed Samus. Judging from her growling voice, she was noticeably angry, and the three others weren't stupid enough to light the fuse in her that would cause her to blow up the mansion.

Quick footsteps were heard in the pitch dark. "What just happened? Wha- AHHH!" said Jigglypuff as she accidentally tripped over Samus's leg. "Oops, sorry…" she apologized. Samus was completely silent, though the other can sense her temper rising. She immediately shot a missile at the TV set, blowing it up.

"What the hell just happened? What just blew up?" exclaimed Fox.

"Must've been Samus, you know about her really bad temper," said Captain Falcon.

Another missile was shot in the dark, though it accidentally hit a different target.

"AHHHH!" cried Jigglypuff as she was sent flying upwards 30 feet.

"Now you've done it, Samus!" yelled Falcon as he ran up to Samus to restrain her in the dark. Thing is, he got Fox instead.

"What the hell? Get off of me, or else I'll shine you again like before!" cried Fox.

"Falcon, you're dead!" yelled Samus.

"Shut the hell up!" yelled Luigi. The entire room immediately fell silent before his commanding voice. "This is getting us nowhere at all! And what puzzles me is why the power went out. This mansion doesn't run on electricity, you know… Somebody must've cut the power source just now."

"All four of us were here except Jigglypuff, but she was heard cleaning up her mess," replied Falcon. "Of course, she makes more mess than she cleans by herself."

More silence.

"Falcon, your jokes are stupid and not funny at all." Fox shook his head. "Don't even try next time."

"Someone else must be in here… I'm going to kill that person," growled Samus as she charged her arm cannon, changing the topic too.

"Calm down, Samus. The last thing we need is violence… for the time being. We need to find this person. Thing is, I don't know where the power supply is in this mansion… I didn't help build this place you know…" said Luigi.

"I know! It's a hidden door in the battle room, but we're not supposed to tell anyone about it," replied Jigglypuff.

"Apparently, some smasher turned it off I guess… Or someone else already knows…" said Luigi.

"We need to go find out who it was then. Let's go!" said Fox. "But we need some light… who can make a light?"

On cue, Luigi held out his palm and held a fireball which brightly lit up the entire room with green light.

"Awesome. Let's go," said Fox. The four other smashers nodded as they walked through the hall that led to the battle room.

* * *

"Excellent… I have the power now… I must report back to headquarters before the smashers find out…" the voice said. He walked through the wall and appeared directly in front of the control panels. Apparently, he can see through the dark perfectly well. He turned to his left to walk towards the doorway when he heard several footsteps. _Damnit, I should've been quicker… But noooooooo, the boss insisted that I take the safe route rather than plowing through the entire mansion itself… geez…_

A green light immediately emitted the room and Fox, Captain Falcon, Samus, Luigi, and Jigglypuff quickly entered. The unknown person wasn't quick enough to escape the light, and Luigi's green light shone on him.

He was a small, cloaked thing, about the size of Jigglypuff and Kirby. He wore a white mask, and appeared to have a blue body. He had two yellow evil eyes that glared at the smashers, and held a long sword that rivaled Marth and Roy's sword.

"Who the _hell_ are you?" questioned Captain Falcon.

"Obviously the source of our problem, you idiot," replied Fox, bonking him on the head. The dumbfounded Falcon didn't notice.

"Wow… I was really slow in getting out of this place with the power producer. My boss told me it had a great power that we can all share for… Never mind!" said the figure. "I can already feel some power coming into me… Power that you can't imagine!"

"If you're talking about power, try facing Master Hand and Crazy Hand first," said Fox.

"I know about their powers… but this source's power dwarfs the hands' powers tenfold!" _I mustn't use it all though, or my boss will kill me…_ "Prepare to die!" he said as he drew his sword.

This was a time where smash abilities came in handy. All five smashers got into fighting stance. However, the small knight strangely glowed and radiated some energy that all the smashers could feel.

_I can tell he's not going to be easy… Shit, I'm still tired from the battle with Captain Falcon…_ Fox thought.

The knight suddenly disappeared and appeared behind Luigi. Luigi whirled around, but it was too late. He immediately slashed Luigi on his back and quickly thrusted his sword through his arm. Luigi let out a loud gasp as he fell to the ground, unconscious and wounded.

Fox was the first to notice what was happening, but it was too late; the knight already got Captain Falcon too. Samus threw out her grappling beam in an attempt to grab the fast knight, but he disappeared yet again. Knowing what to expect this time, she quickly morphed into her morph ball, just to hear the swift sound of a swinging sword above her. She quickly planted a bomb and boosted away before transforming back.

Unfortunately, the bomb missed and the knight took this opportunity to slash Jigglypuff, whose reactions were too slow to counter him. She fell after a single slice as well, leaving only Fox and Samus against the enemy.

Fox immediately pulled out his blaster and started firing at the knight, but all of his shots missed. The knight jumped from wall to wall and finally reached his closer target: Samus. Expecting her to transform again, he attempted to slice her vertically instead. She immediately shot a fully charged power beam shot into his face, sending him flying into the wall. Fox took this opportunity to speed towards the knight and kicked him upwards. He jumped up and prepared to use his trusty reflector attack when the knight disappeared and reappeared below Fox.

Samus released her grapple beam to reel in the knight while switching her arm cannon functions; it was now switched to the ice beam. She shot a shot of pure ice at the knight in her grip, but the knight swung his sword to cut the grapple beam and rolled around Samus. Before she knew what happened, he swung his sword up on her back and immediately slammed his foot on her head.

For the knight, four down one to go.

Fox was one of the fastest smashers, he knew, but his enemy was way faster. He wasn't going to go down without a one-on-one fight though. The knight appeared right behind Fox. Expecting this, Fox rolled around the knight just as it had rolled around Samus. He crouched and swung his tail at the knight, lifting him into the air a couple feet. Fox short hopped and used a drill kick. He immediately used a powerful round-house kick on the stunned knight, sending him flying across the room. He grabbed his trusty blaster and fired away.

But the knight disappeared in midair! Before Fox had a chance to react, the knight grabbed Fox's neck from behind, holding his sword in front of his neck.

"Any last words?" the knight asked.

Fox had nothing to say, so he asked, "Who the hell are you?"

The knight kicked Fox off and swiftly slashed his back with his sword. Fox gasped out in pain as he felt blood spurt out from his back and felt himself losing consciousness.

"You want my name?" the dark figure asked, pointing his sword at Fox. "You're an interesting guy."

Fox closed his eyes. The moment before he fell unconscious, the knight replied, "My name is Meta Knight and be sure to remember it."


	2. Chapter 2: A Destined Journey Begins

Hack: Here's chapter 2! Hope you enjoy it! More will be revealed, and more actions scenes! Yay! Well, hopefully you'll enjoy those too… All reviews accepted!

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Destined Journey Begins  
**

Samus silently groaned as she kneeled up, putting one head on her head. She felt like she was trapped in the pitch dark room. She turned on her thermal visor, allowing her to see anything that gives off heat thermally and immediately spotted Luigi, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Fox unconscious on the ground, becoming curious as what happened.

Then she remembered what happened. Before she passed out, a small knight just defeated her after slicing up everyone else but Fox. Seeing that Fox was bleeding and unconscious, it was safe to assume that they lost the fight.

_And we outnumbered him five to one! What kind of power does he have? I feel so defenseless now… I want to walk up to someone and blow it up, so people can still know that I can be in charge…_

Samus looked at Captain Falcon. His breathing body face down on the floor was practically begging her to shoot a missile at him. But he didn't really do anything bad, so there wasn't a reason to blow him up, was there?

She blew him up with a super missile anyways. All her anger instantly faded away as she heard the familiar scream of the racer.

"What the hell, fire on my ass? AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Captain Falcon screamed as his butt was set on fire, lighting the entire room. He ran around the room at blazing speeds, trying to let the resisting wind blow away the fire.

Fifteen minutes already passed and Captain Falcon was still screaming, running around. Samus sighed. _Maybe I shouldn't have missiled him…_ She equipped her Ice beam and accurately shot Falcon's behind. The fire instantly disappeared, but his butt was now completely frozen.

The three other smashers silently woke up and groaned, just as Samus did. Fox sat up and stared at Captain Falcon with a "what the hell?" expression as Luigi just noticed the pitch darkness and lit up his hand once again.

"What just happened?" asked Luigi.

"Metaknight got away…" replied Fox.

"Metaknight? That's his name?"

"Yeah, he said so right after he knocked me unconscious…"

"Obviously it had something to do with the power source of the mansion… But what did he mean by it having so much power?"

"Don't know, don't ask me… Let's try going to the room with it. But why didn't he kill us?"

The room was silent. "Maybe his boss has something to do with it…" replied Samus. "Must want us alive."

Jigglypuff walked up to the control panels and pressed buttons that none of the others understood. Instantly, the screen above the controls disappeared, revealing a large door that would lead behind the controls. "Let's go," she said.

Each of the smashers climbed up through the door and found themselves in a surprisingly bright spherical room. It would be completely empty, if it weren't for the blonde girl who sat in the very center. She was very small, about as small as Nana, and had large, white fairy-like wings.

Captain Falcon immediately walked up to the person, despite her innocent appearance. "All right, little girl, tell us what you told that… Metal knight to do, or else you'll find your own throat under my own hands… on fire, dude," he threatened. The others didn't believe her to be involved with this mess, but Captain Falcon was clearly not in a good mood.

"Falcon, I don't think she has anything to do with…" said Fox, but the girl interrupted.

"Of course, I told metaknight about the hidden powers that lie in your mansion," she said.

"What? Are you kidding me? You, a little girl…" said Luigi.

"You look too innocent though…"

The girl innocently smiled. "No, I lied. I didn't say anything at all," she replied. The smashers look confused. "Geez, you should really stop assuming things just from appearance… Don't judge a book by its cover, one day you're all going to make that big mistake... Ah well…"

"Then why are you here?" asked Fox, amused yet taken aback by her personality.

"Me? I have been living on Final Destination for centuries and centuries… much longer than any of you guys and your enemies, the Master Hand and the Crazy Hand. After you all built this mansion, and a couple made the small plant in here that provided the mansion with its power, I couldn't help notice that this small plant contained so much unimaginable power…"

"What?" replied Jigglypuff. "We just built it out of our own hands, and combined some of our powers to create it… I don't understand. It's just a simple power source, like electricity without requiring so many resources. How can it be so much more powerful than our own power? Enough for others to greed for it?"

"That is because a few of you smashers secretly inserted a few strange ingredients… They did their job though. I do not know who did it, nor do I know what those secret ingredients are. However, this particular ingredient transformed this power supply into an object that destiny feared would be created… It was called the Endowment of Exigency."

"Endowment of Exigency? Catchy name…" replied Fox.

"What the fuck does Endowment or Exigency mean?" asked Falcon.

Samus shrugged. "Beats me."

"We fairies believed that when this ultimate power was created, a clique of villains would claim this. With the Endowment of Exigency, they would have incredible power, enough to rule the entire universe. To stop them, destiny called upon five people to defeat these villains, and use their own powers to defeat the final leader…

I'm very positive that you five are the five that destiny calls on."

There was immediate silence. "What… the… hell?" Fox broke the ten minute silence. "How do you expect us to beat a group of these people when we couldn't even beat Metaknight, outnumbering him five to one?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" replied Captain Falcon. "I could have totally _pwn_ed that little squirt if I actually had an idea of what was going on!" A quiet 'psh, yeah right' was heard by everyone else.

"Captain Falcon is right," continued the fairy. "You were all totally unprepared. Plus, you're going to get new powers on your journey around the universe!"

"Wait, wait, wait, so we're going around the universe, hunting these guys down?" asked Luigi.

"More like visiting various planets, as they're all traveling and accomplishing missions, protecting the keys that destroy their power. It'd take a couple months for the leader to perfect a flawless plan to take over the universe, so rather than having everyone gathered together, waiting to be sitting targets, he forced them to split up to various worlds."

"To stall for time, right?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Of course. The other villains are too stupid to notice that he's just using them to stall for time, so he can rule the entire universe. But you five will have to defeat all of them, and finally hunt the main criminal down. You must do this quickly, however. I think that you have around four or five months to accomplish this task, but that's more time than you need I think."

"Are you sure? We're not exactly that powerful, and I personally don't like to fight that much…" said Luigi.

"It's inevitable. You will have to fight your way through. And don't worry, you'll all grow more powerful as time passes."

"Now, enough time for talk. I teleported in an extra ship for you all to ride out of this world. It's up to you guys to decide where to go, though I suggest heading for Planet Zebes… I am certain that one of the enemies is hiding there, and I know that Samus here knows who that is."

Everyone looked at Samus, who just gave a simple shrug. "I wouldn't really know."

"It's better for you guys to call up an ally of yours first, so you can stock up on supplies and be ready for your journey. I'll send you to the surface, outside of your mansion. You must get out as quickly as possible, this place will self-destruct in matters of minutes…"

"Holy shit! What the hell?" replied Captain Falcon. The fairy ignored him.

"We're all counting on you… Help each other, trust each other, and bond with each other. I shall leave you now…" There was a bright, blinding light that engulfed the entire group of five, and the smashers found themselves right outside the mansion.

"What the hell? That thing just came out at us out of nowhere! One second, we're enjoying a normal day in the mansion, the next we're kicked out to save the universe once again!" said Captain Falcon. "And only us five too!"

"Well I've been itching for an adventure for a while now. I haven't been on one for years!" said Fox, smirking.

"I'm not really enthusiastic about this… I was never a help around anyways, I don't know how I can help out," said Jigglypuff.

"Come on, Jiggly!" replied Luigi. "I'm not really happy about it either, but you beat me in the tournament, and you made it into the final four out of twenty six! I'm pretty sure that you'll become a great help!"

Jigglypuff just shrugged, with a still nervous look.

Samus pointed ahead at the edge of Final Destination. A large blue ship suddenly materialized out of nowhere.

"This must be our ticket out… Come on, guys, let's go," said Fox. He walked to the side of the ship, staring at the unrecognizable controls. It didn't take him long to get the gist, though, and soon all five smashers were inside the convenient ship, with Fox and Samus manually guiding the ship.

"So where do you think we should go?" asked Luigi.

"Zebes, just like the fairy said. But first, I set the ship to locate the Great Fox, where we could rest up a little and get back into shape for a day."

"Wha? The Great Fox?"

"It's basically my team's base, where we basically live. Me, Falco, and the rest of the team. You'll like them, I promise."

"All right, let's go then."

* * *

The room was somewhat dark, and somewhat crowded. There was a large variety of people in here, humans, monsters, knights, you name it. All of them were socializing, surprisingly not fighting at all. One particular person stood out more than everyone else, however. 

A tall, mysterious, humanoid figure stood straight at the side of a large, circular table. He rose above all the other figures inside the room, signaling them to quiet down. Knowing how powerful he was, everyone else became silent.

"Now, as you all know, this is a day for us to rejoice, a day for our revenge, and a day for our conquest!" he called out. "Metaknight has finally returned with the Endowment of Exigency, allowing its power to spread through all of us! With us working together, we can all destroy our enemies and become the rulers of the universe!"

Everyone cheered madly as Glasses of wine were thrown into the air. The leader smiled.

One of the villains walked up to the leader to question him, though. "But you are going to be the leader of the entire universe, since more than 10 rulers would not be fit. What's in it for each of us then?" he growled.

"Of course, if I was the ruler, it'd be quite difficult to manage each particular world. Each one of you will rule over these worlds, finally destroying those who have stopped your progress. I am correct in assuming that Fox McCloud has defeated you several times in aerial combat, Wolf O'Donnell?"

Wolf angrily growled, "Yes… I'd love to crush that pup and kill him. No, I don't want anything else destroying him, I want to finally prove that I'm better than that weak pup. He always wants to save everything, whenever something's hopeless he always pushes himself to no ends… I despise him." He emphasized the despise with the glass cup shattering in his hand.

"Then as a result, your wish shall be granted. Fox will be killed, by your own hands of course. I'm quite sure that everyone here has a wish that someone that stops them, I assume? Some came so close then at the last minute, stopped by some greater entity. Anyone here that had that happen to them?"

Nobody replied. Then a tall, blue haired man stood up, though reluctantly.

"Ah, yes Alex… You were so close to obtaining the power of the Golden Sun when the Wise One informed you that it has gone to Isaac instead… and then you were humiliated, defeated within mere seconds."

Obviously Alex did not want to talk about it. He simply nodded then sat back down.

"I tell you all now, this is a new age to come; a new age of darkness! For the first time ever written in history, darkness shall prevail over the universe! We will all taste conquest and power for once, and we shall prevail!"

An uproar immediately commenced. Everyone else within the room rejoiced, because they believed that they could finally win… for the first time ever…

* * *

The smashers entered through an automatic gray door as they entered the main lobby of the Great Fox. It wasn't magnificent, but the smashers gave it credit for being a decent room on a ship. There were control panels for the ship everywhere on the walls, and quite a few rotating chairs that were clearly comfortable to sit in. A few metallic tables and television sets lay on various spots of the lobby. Several desks had chairs beside them, one for each Starfox member. A frog was seen in one of these seats, holding a wrench and fixing a jukebox with it. 

"Man, that's the fifth time Falco trashed this while practicing… I swear, the next time he does it, I'll um… close off his room forever! Yeah, that'll teach him a lesson!"

Fox approached him from behind. "Hey Slippy!" he said. Slippy would have jumped more than a hundred stories if it weren't for the ceiling.

"AHHHHHHH! You scared me back there! I thought you were Falco again! When did you ever come in?" replied Slippy as his rubbed his head painfully. He was a young green toad, slightly younger than Fox and Falco. He started fighting for the Starfox Team at around the same time as Fox and Falco did, and participated in many Arwing missions. His piloting skills weren't as good (actually they suck), since he constantly needed help from Fox to shoot down trailing enemies (yeah, his piloting skills really suck), but his mechanical skills clearly made up for them.

"A couple minutes ago. If you weren't so busy fixing that, you would've noticed the alert signal on the main screen." Slippy looked back and indeed noticed a hologram in the middle of the room saying, "Visitor!"

"How can he not notice that? He must be a real freak!" Captain Falcon whispered to Samus and Luigi. Slippy nervously chuckled, clearly embarrassed at not noticing that large sign.

Fox heard them as well. "Come on, Falcon, give him a break. Oh yeah, we never had a formal introduction with them yet. This is Slippy, our mechanical genius."

Luigi held out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Slippy!" Slippy grabbed his hand and happily shook it. "My name is Luigi. This is Captain Falcon, who's a cocky impatient idiot that'll drive you nuts." Captain Falcon crossed his arms with a frown on his face. "This is Jigglypuff, a really nice pokemon, and this is Samus, who you won't be talking with much."

Slippy nodded with a smile. "Why did you bring these guys along, Fox? Something happening, or what?"

"Apparently, we were chosen to 'save the universe', but I still don't believe it… still, I can't take any risks. It was so sudden, but somehow it made sense as well…" said Fox. "And I stopped by so we can take an Arwing… One of the larger ones so the others have enough space to stay in."

"Oh, so you're not staying for long… Too bad. You guys could've met Krystal and Peppy, but Krystal's on a mission right now and Peppy's filing some stuff for General Pepper."

"We also need to stock up on stuff that we can all use for the trip, like food and stuff."

"Ok, I'll help pack up some food and such for you guys to use. Just rest a bit in the lounge, but don't touch anything unless your name is Fox," said Slippy as he walked off through another door.

It was actually quite dull in the lounge. Fox left for his room inside the Great Fox, and Captain Falcon decided to do some 'exploring' inside the ship, leaving the three others behind and promising them that he'd be back in half an hour. Luigi looked up at a map of the hallways in the Great Fox. There was a particular room on it that stood out, saying "Battle Room."

"Hm… Hey Jigglypuff, want to come with me for some practice?"

Jigglypuff looked at Luigi for a moment. "Sure."

* * *

Fox was resting on his bed, thinking about all the past events that had happened just hours ago. It all seemed rushed, there was absolutely no warning of any big adventure going on. Still, he was an adventurous guy, and it's been a bit boring inside the mansion, especially if Captain Falcon wasn't there. Suddenly, the door to his compartment opened and a blue vixen walked in. 

"Hey, Krystal," said Fox. "You know, you're supposed to knock on the door first…"

"Sorry, but I don't like to be seen by… the visitors. You know, I don't like being with strangers…" Krystal replied. Unlike Falco and Slippy, she wasn't in the Starfox team from the start. She was the telepath of the team, being able to sense life patterns and such, and determine how someone's feeling. She was also quite shy around people she didn't know, which would explain why she didn't want to be seen by the other smashers.

"Well how did your mission go?"

"Fine, but I know you're going to leave tomorrow, Fox…"

"What of it? Going to ask to tag along?"

"Maybe, but I just want to tell you not to get yourself killed. You know how I feel, Fox."

"Yeah, well I won't be as reckless as Falco, I can guarantee that," Fox said with a smile. Krystal giggled. Afterwards, she reached behind her back and held out a small metal gold rod in front of Fox.

"Here, take this. It'll definitely help."

"Are you sure, Krystal? It's yours and I haven't been using it for a while…"

"You're much more potent with it than I am, Fox. I think it'll be put to more use if you used it."

"Hm, well you never really use it. All right, I'll take it." With that, Krystal dropped the rod into Fox's hands, and Fox placed it in a backpack next to his bed.

"I'm going to be out tomorrow," said Krystal.

"Another mission? Been a while since I've been on one assigned by General Pepper. Well, I won't be seeing you for a while, Krystal…"

"Yeah, promise me that you'll come back alive and well."

"Of course! I'm not as crazy as Captain Falcon!"

"Now get some rest."

* * *

"This is a two-stock match on stage Fountain of Dreams. No items. Ready? Go!" an announcer overhead called out. 

Luigi and Jigglypuff stood on opposite edges of the stage, in fighting stance. Luigi was the first to act; he ran up to Jigglypuff and swung his legs around in a breakdance. Jigglypuff slightly hopped to narrowly avoid his legs, and threw her arm forward in a pound attack at Luigi's face. Luigi was knocked into the air a couple feet, and Jigglypuff bounced once in mid-air to find Luigi directly behind her. She spun around, kicking once at Luigi, which knocked him away from the stage. She landed back on the edge, ready for some edge-guarding.

Luigi ducked in midair, then shot forward like a missile. He stopped directly above Jigglypuff then used a quick drill kick that shot Jigglypuff across the stage. She crouched to decrease the impact, then wavedashed toward the center of the stage. Luigi went on the offensive again; he used one wavedash (his wavedash sends him ZOOMING across a stage by the way, due to his low traction) to zoom across Jigglypuff. In the middle, he used his breakdancing attack again. So basically he used a breakdancing attack while sliding across the stage. His attack struck Jigglypuff, sending her into the air. Luigi jumped up and slapped her with the edge of his hand, which surprisingly sent her far away from the stage.

Jigglypuff lightly floated towards the stage until she was on level with the edge, where Luigi was standing to edge-guard. She shot out her arm with another pound attack at Luigi, and Luigi simply side-stepped it. He grabbed her from behind and swung his body around once counter-clockwise. He released Jigglypuff after gaining some momentum to send her flying far, costing her a stock.

Jigglypuff dropped through the top platform after reappearing and threw both her legs forward at Luigi, knocking him forward a bit. Jigglypuff then turned around and short-hopped, spinning her body once while kicking Luigi, knocking him further. She bounced once in midair while approaching and used her kick again. And again. And again. Luigi was FAR away from the stage now. Jigglypuff then bounced three more times in midair, then used the momentum from her pound attacks to make her way back to the stage, grabbing the edge. She watched Luigi fall down, losing his first stock.

Luigi landed on the center of the stage and wavedashed away from Jigglypuff, toward the edge, giving some space between the two. He shot two fireballs at her as Jigglypuff ran towards him. Both connected. However, when he shot his third one, Jigglypuff hopped up and stuck her leg out. The fireball struck her leg, but it didn't disappear. Instead, it changed directions, heading for Luigi! Before Luigi noticed this, it struck his face, giving Jigglypuff the time she needs to give him a beating. Jigglypuff approached Luigi and threw two quick punches. However, Luigi was crouching, and he barely flinched. (If your interested, this called crouch-cancelling, crouching to decrease the knockback from other attacks. If you aren't at a high damage percent, you'll barely flinch!) He stuck out his leg to trip up Jigglypuff, then karate chopped her, sending her flying towards the other end of the stage.

Jigglypuff immediately recovered and jumped towards Luigi. Luigi threw another karate chop when Jigglypuff used her third pound attack. Pound had more priority than a karate chop, so when the two attacks connected, Jigglypuff pierced through Luigi's hand and her pound connected with his entire body. Luigi lightly bounced up into the air, landing behind her. Jigglypuff grabbed him from behind, then threw him upwards with a twirl. She immediately jumped up to Luigi and kicked him four times in the air. She felt her body touching Luigi's body after the fourth kick. A perfect opportunity for…

REST!

Immediately Jigglypuff fell asleep, and Luigi's body went on fire. He was sent flying out of the stage, and lost his second and last stock within less than a quarter of a second.

_Maybe I'm not so useless after all…_ Jigglypuff thought before falling asleep.

_Wow, she's not rusty at all… She beat me in just the same ways she beat me in the tournaments: with the Wall of Pain and Rest… crazy._ Luigi thought as he was sent to the side.

Samus sat by the screen, watching the melee fight between then. "Well, it'd be interesting if I fought either of them… Even Fox. Probably not Captain Falcon… He did come from a racing game rather than a fighting one. It must be evening by now…" She got off the couch and laid herself on the ground, on her back. In a couple minutes, she was asleep.

And Captain Falcon must be very lost in the ship, since he has been gone for hours.


	3. Chapter 3: Attack of the Space Pirates!

Hack: I think this fic's been coming along pretty well… got lots of fun ideas coming up. Not many reviews, but I'm writing to express my imagination. Enjoy the third chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Attack of the Space Pirates!**

Fox sat in the cockpit, hands to his sides. He grabbed a seat belt from the side and buckled it, then grabbed the controls that manned the Arwing with one hand. He flicked many tiny levers on the ceiling, and looked through the window ahead of him, displaying his surroundings and several confusing indicators and targets.

Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Luigi, and Samus sat on the benches in the miniscule compartment. Crates of supplies lay aside, barely making room for the four. There was barely enough space to fit a Donkey Kong or Bowser!

"Move your arm, Luigi, it's getting into my ribs!"

"Sorry, Falcon, but I have no room to move my arm to. Geez… you should be the one moving, look at all that space to your left."

"Dude, I need that space for my rest. No doubt you'll need me at my full power to beat all these dudes for you, so I'll need the most comfortable rest possible. I'll also need it to attract the ladies that we meet," Captain Falcon said with a wink at Samus.

Samus replied with a missile in his face. The entire Arwing shook violently, and the miniscule intercom on the wall showed Fox. "Hey Samus, don't go around blowing people up, even blowing Captain Falcon up. This ship's small and meant for only one person. If you're uncomfortable, then deal with it. And if you shoot another missile, you'll risk blowing us all up at the same time," he said. Both Captain Falcon and Samus sighed.

"Damn it, I can't get my sleep…"

"Damn it, I can't blow up that flirt…"

"Deal with it," Fox replied with a smirk. "Just chill. You don't have time to sleep, we'll be there in half an hour or so. We're lucky it's so close."

"Fox, first I want to stop by Tallon IV. I need to stop by for my equipment, since my ship is currently resting there."

"Is it nearby?"

"Just on the way. It'll take another half hour to be there I think… I recognize these stars," said Samus as she pointed at the windows. "Plus, getting my ship will provide more space for the three others. I think it's a good idea."

"All right," said Fox. Then the intercom switched off.

"Jigglypuff's so lucky… She gets to just sit up under the benches because she's so small…" said Falcon.

"Eh… I wouldn't be too sure of that, Falcon," Luigi replied. Jigglypuff was sitting below the bench the three others were sitting on. And it was not very pleasant sitting under Captain Falcon because of certain… gasses released. Not pleasant at all… Jigglypuff moved as far from Falcon as she could under the bench. She never said anything, being the kind, benevolent one. The only thing she let out was a cough.

"Ew, Falcon, did you let off the gas?" asked Luigi.

"Hell no, it must've been Samus."

"Excuse me?"

"I think I'm going to faint…" Jigglypuff fell to the ground, but none of the others noticed.

"You're saying that I let off gas as foul as this? My scan visor indicates that it's the gas from your ass, Captain Falcon."

"Busted…"

"Fine, whatever… By the way, that rhymed! It so cool, gas from my ass!" Everyone ignored him.

"Poor Jiggly… She has to suffer sitting below you, Falcon…"

"Whatever happened to the puffer anyways?" He looked below and saw a pink heap lying on the ground unconscious. "Oops…"

* * *

"Looks like they're going to be here any minute…" 

"Yes, indeed, my partner. And we shall finish them…"

"Samus… I must kill her. I must have my revenge…"

"Kraid, Kraid, Kraid… you've been defeated by her flawlessly… At least I've made a dent in that bounty hunter before falling. I deserve the kill."

"True, but Ridley surely I am now capable of finishing her… and the others."

"Leave the others to our companions. Our companions will surely kill us if we kill their targets, and we do not want that happening after just receiving new powers, do we?"

"Of course not."

"You just stay here. I'll go finish Samus and her friends. You stay here in Phazon Mines, I'll go to the entrance of Impact Crater."

"Where?"

"The Temple of Artifacts…"

"Fine. If you fail, then you know what will happen…"

* * *

"So this is Tallon IV?" asked Fox. Their surroundings consisted of many black buildings, cranes, and strange blue substances. Various blue doors were seen on the walls, and on the side of a mountain. 

"Yeah, this area is Phazon Mines. Luckily, I destroyed the Space Pirates' operations, so it should be a peaceful place right now. My ship should be in Tallon Overworld, at the Temple of Artifacts," answered Samus. "It should be abandoned, unless they came back… and I think they did, since it's operational again."

The place looked like it was working a bit, and people were manning some of the materials. It seemed that nobody was physically outside, just manned the controls inside buildings, so nobody noticed the Arwing land in a secret mountainous cove, or even the smashers talking.

"Falcon, your gas still smells…" complained Luigi as he held his nose in disgust.

"Well that's how I am. You still can't live without my skills, everyone has faults. Even me! So my fault is that I have a very smelly fart. Live with it."

"Definitely not close to your only fault, though..." Fox quietly joked.

"But you still smell…" Luigi groaned.

Jigglypuff was still out cold, from the encasement in the horrid smell.

"I SAID LIVE WITH IT, OK?" He charged up a fiery punch with his right hand, bringing it back.

"Shit…" everyone else conscious whispered.

"FALCOOOOOOOOOOOOOON PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!" yelled Captain Falcon as he released a powerful punch at Luigi. Luigi jumped over Falcon and hopped on his head. He bounced off, and flipped gracefully in the air, landing on his feet behind Falcon.

Loud beeping noises were immediately released. Several strange creatures ran out of the doors, jumping off of ledges harmlessly, and surrounded the five smashers. Each one had a yellow scythe on each arm, and their faces resembled robotic lizards. Their bodies, arms, and legs had light armor that seemed to be able to repel many things. Space pirates carried a gun in one of their hands, perfectly capable of knocking out a normal being.

Jigglypuff finally stirred awake. "What? What's happening?"

"Samus… You've returned," one of the space pirates said. "You've knocked our experiments and research down many times before… This time, you shall fail!"

"What the hell? We just came down to get my ship," replied Samus. "I don't give a damn about you guys right now!"

"Well, if you have your ship, you'll be able to destroy us much more easily. Why should we release you?"

The five smashers knew that fighting was inevitable, so each got into a fighting stance.

"Well, it looks like you guys aren't going to let us go," said Fox.

"We agree on something for once, companion of Samus. Space Pirates… ATTACK!" the space pirate commanded. The hundreds upon hundreds of space pirates immediately wielded their guns and fiercely shot at the smashers. The five immediately dodged every attack, reading them like a book. The space pirates nearby drew their scythes and approached the smashers.

Luigi immediately jumped on top of one and kicked him to the ground. He back flipped off, and performed a butt-stomp on the space pirate's head, crushing his skull. Jigglypuff charged a quick rollout attack and released, smashing herself into another space pirate. That pirate was sent flying into others, knocking around twenty or so unconscious. Captain Falcon pierced through a line of pirates with a well-placed Falcon Kick, burning them all to death. Fox grabbed Luigi sideways by the legs as Luigi charged up his gas.

"You ready, Fox?" asked Luigi.

"I'll release when you say so."

"Go!"

Fox immediately let go of Luigi as Luigi flew through the army of pirates, using a fully charged green missile. Half of the army was immediately dispatched in the resulting explosion.

"Don't give up! We must defeat Samus once and for all! Put on your cloaking devices!" yelled the commander. Immediately the hundred space pirates still alive turned invisible, cloaking themselves with an unknown method.

"What the hell? They're all invisible!" yelled Captain Falcon as his face received a deep cut.

"This is crazy, we were never trained to fight invisible people!" replied Luigi as his hand found itself on something very sharp.

Samus seemed to be concentrating on something. Her suit seemed to be effective against the Space Pirates, defensively. Her arm cannon had red sparks coming out of its end.

"Samus?" said Jigglypuff as she jumped, narrowly avoiding a guessed slash from a random space pirate.

Samus immediately opened her eyes. "Get down, everyone!" she yelled. Her companions obeyed as they all ducked except Jigglypuff, who didn't need to duck. She held out her arm cannon, and cried, "Flamethrower!"

Suddenly, a beam of magma erupted from her arm cannon. She rotated herself, burning everything at waist height and above. All of the space pirates immediately screamed in pain as their bodies turned into ash. The only things alive were the crouching smashers.

"Wow, that was a bit crazy," Fox finally said. "Why don't you use that in the smash tournaments?"

"Because it's too powerful. I can't use anything overpowered. You know that, Fox," replied Samus. "And it drained half of my missile supplies. I think I used about 103 missiles…"

"Wow…" said Jigglypuff.

Samus walked up to a rocky wall and touched a blue door. "We can go to Tallon Overworld right now, but I feel that we have to destroy the space pirates in the mines first."

"Well it's not part of our quest, but it's always a good thing to defeat what's bad, right?" said Fox. The others nodded in agreement.

"I think we wiped out all the pirates, but it seems that there's some more alive somewhere…" said Samus.

"RIGHT YOU ARE, SAMUS," a loud booming voice sounded. The smashers looked behind themselves to see a space pirate. Thing is, this one was a lot bigger… and a LOT. His size easily rivaled all of the buildings around put together. Blue shining armor covered his forehead, elbows, and knees. His body was coated with several layers of more armor. Cannons were equipped on his back, ready to shoot powerful missiles. "IT SEEMS THAT YOU WIPED OUT ALL THE PIRATES. BUT FEAR NOT, I AM STILL ALIVE, AND I SHALL DESTROY YOU AND REVIVE THE REST WITH SOME RESEARCH. WE SHALL CONTINUE THE RESEARCH ON THE METROIDS AND ADJUST CHANGES TO RIDLEY AND KRAID SO WE CAN FINALLY RULE TALLON IV!"

"What? Ridley and Kraid are alive?"

"YOU FOOL, OF COURSE THEY ARE. EVERY TIME YOU DESTROY THEM, WE REVIVE THEM USING THEIR DNA SAMPLES AND WE CAN EVEN BUILD CLONES! BUT TIME IS RUNNING SHORT. I SHALL FINISH YOU OFF AS A GIFT FOR RIDLEY AND KRAID AND BE NAMED THE SPACE PIRATE THAT KILLED THE FAMOUS BOUNTY HUNTER!"

"Who is that guy?" asked Fox.

"Omega Pirate… One of the toughest enemies I faced here. He seems a lot stronger too…"

"But you're not alone. We're here to help you this time."

"No, you can't defeat him without the ability to see things in a new dimension."

"So you have it?"

"No. I have to go back to my ship to get it."

The smashers stared in silence. "Are you _sure_ that there is no other way to defeat him?"

"If there's a source of phazon nearby, then yeah there is no other way. And there are sources of phazon in this area… plenty," replied Samus as she looked at the pools of blue energy-producing radiation.

"I'll go with you, Samus," said Captain Falcon. "Just give me a simple map with directions, and I'll be there in no time!"

Samus glared at Falcon with suspicion, but she shrugged. "Ok, the password is Adam. Here's the map, now go! I'll be there after you."

"All right." Samus gave Captain Falcon a paper map of the entire world with the location of her ship, and Captain Falcon sped through the blue door.

"Guys, you have to hold off the Omega Pirate until I get back. Don't die," said Samus as she ran off after Falcon.

"SAMUS, YOU ARE NOT ESCAPING ME!" the pirate screamed as he stomped towards the door that she disappeared through. Fox, Luigi, and Jigglypuff appeared in front of the door, in a fighting stance.

"You'll have to get through us first, Omega Pirate," Fox said with a grin on his face. The other two smashers nodded.

"DO YOU WANT TO QUICKEN YOUR DEATHS? YOU THREE AGAINST ME IS PRACTICALLY ASKING FOR SUICIDE. WITHOUT THE BOUNTY HUNTER, YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!"

"Possibly, but we won't die. We'll hold you off until we get the weapon we need to destroy you."

"DESTROY ME? DESTROYING ME IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT SAMUS. I HAVE ALREADY LOCKED THE DOOR THAT SHE HAS WALKED THROUGH, SO IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HER TO RETURN!" the Omega Pirate said as he pointed at the blue door. It now had a white X on it.

"Shoot…" both Luigi and Jigglypuff murmured.

But Fox smiled. "Don't worry, we'll find a way to defeat you without Samus, and the rest of the space priates."

"OH, GETTING COCKY, HUH? WELL LET'S JUST SEE HOW WELL YOU DO NOW!" The Omega Pirate dashed forward quickly (very fast for someone as big as him) and swiped at the three smashers. Fox immediately dashed to the side, Luigi jumped over the slash, and Jigglypuff ducked under it. Noticing Jigglypuff in front of him, the pirate held a fist with his other hand and threw it forward at Jigglypuff. The pokemon rolled to the side and jumped on top of the pirate's hand. She floated up to the pirate's face and held her arm back.

"Mega Punch!" she cried as her arm shot forward like a pound attack, except it looked much more powerful. The pirate was knocked back across the field, grunting. Luigi jumped up behind him and pointed his legs at the pirate. When they came in contact with the pirate, he drilled his legs into his back, knocking Omega Pirate to the ground.

Fox jumped up to a higher ledge and held out a large cannon; the Homing Missile Launcher. He pointed it at the Omega Pirate and fired. A red missile flew out of its end and found its mark on the pirate's back, causing a large explosion. After the explosion cleared away, the Omega Pirate stood up high, looking like he didn't feel any pain at all!

"What the hell?" exclaimed Fox.

"NOT BAD. BUT YOU MUST KNOW THAT I AM INVINCIBLE IN SEVERAL PARTS OF MY BODY. YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!"

The cannons on the pirate's back shook, and shot much larger missiles at Fox. Taken back by surprise, Fox could do nothing as he took the full blow of the missiles. Many explosions were seen, and when the smoke cleared away, Fox hung on the ledge with one hand. He dropped off and fell on the ground on his bottom.

"Ow…"

"You ok, Fox?" asked Luigi.

"I'm all right. But how can we break through his defenses? He's invincible."

Jigglypuff stared at the Omega Pirate's knees and elbows; they had strange plates of blue on them. Then it hit her. _From what Samus said, the Omega Pirate needs phazon to survive a battle. And phazon is that blue stuff… oh my god!_

"Fox! Luigi! Aim for his knees and elbows! They're made of phazon! I'm sure they're his weak point!"

"Really?"

"IT'S FUTILE. YOU SHALL NEVER DESTROY MY PHAZON ARMOR!" the pirate yelled as he shot more missiles, this time at Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff quickly hopped backwards, narrowly avoiding the large explosion.

The Omega Pirate quickly turned around, slashing at Luigi and Fox. Luigi jumped on top of the Pirate's head and kicked off of him, causing the pirate to stagger. Luigi landed on his arm and threw his hand at the elbow of the pirate in a karate chop. The phazon armor on the pirate's right elbow immediately shattered, and the Omega Pirate roared in pain. He immediately jumped away from Luigi to recover, only to feel a sharp punch from Jigglypuff on his back. He was shoved forward towards Fox, who gave a quick grin.

He held a small golden rod in his hand. It magically extended into a staff with a blue end. He spun it around a few times, and then disappeared. The Omega Pirate furiously searched for Fox when he felt another sharp pain in his knee. Fox had just shattered his left kneepad with his staff. Fox jumped up high and fell towards the pirate's left arm with lightning speed. He flew across his arm, accurately slashing the Omega Pirate's third piece of armor.

"Three down, one to go…" said Fox.

"DON'T GET SO COCKY, FOXY BOY!" yelled Omega Pirate as he swiped at Fox again. Fox sped forward, dodging the slash and ran between the priate's legs, slashing the last piece of armor. It finally shattered, and the Omega Pirate staggered to the ground.

"How do you like that, Omega Pirate?" Fox said with a smirk on his face.

The Omega Pirate roared, and a skeletal form of him appeared. He immediately disappeared after roaring once more, and four normal-sized colored space pirates appeared around where he once was. Each was colored yellow, red, white, and violet.

"Hello, intruders… We are the four elite space pirates of the mines…" the red one said.

"What the… where's Omega Pirate?" asked Luigi.

"He's doing some stuff right now, while we're here to finish the job for him…" said the yellow pirate.

"More fighting…" sighed Jigglypuff.

* * *

"Here's Samus's ship!" exclaimed Captain Falcon as he stood to the side of a strange orange ship. It was noticeably wider and larger than Fox's Arwing, though it looked a bit slower. It was a circular orange ship hovering with four jets on the bottom. A circular indent was seen on the top, noticeably the ceiling door of her ship. 

Captain Falcon jumped on top of her ship and tapped the door. "Password?" a voice asked.

"um… Adam!" said Captain Falcon.

"Invalid password." The voice said as it turned off again.

"What the hell?" he punched the door again.

"Password?"

"It's Adam!"

"Invalid password."

"Fuck you!" Falcon yelled as he punched the door once more.

"Password?"

"You'd better open up this time, or else I swear I will…"

"Invalid password." The voice was turned off. Captain Falcon released a long string of curse words that would cause this fanfic to instantly turn M rated.

Samus stopped running and jumped on her ship seconds later, panting.

"Samus! Your ship won't damn open!" yelled Falcon as he punched the door.

"Password?" the door asked.

"IT'S ADAM!"

"Invalid password."

"Captain Falcon! You have to say Adam, and Adam alone! Nothing else!" said Samus. Captain Falcon paused, embarassed.

"…oh…"

"Stop beating up my ship and do it properly, and fast. It's been an hour since we left the others."

Captain Falcon slowly tapped the door and whispered, "Adam…"

The door finally opened and Samus shoved Falcon off. "Hey! What's the big idea, Samus?" Falcon complained.

"Sorry, but this is my ship and it's personal stuff. I'll be out in just a minute, just wait outside and enjoy the scenery." Then Samus was lowered into her ship, the door closing directly above her.

Captain Falcon sat down, leaning against a wall. It was a pretty neat place… Twelve chozo statues stood high and tall around a circle on the center of the ground. It seemed like a temple where the Chozo stayed to worship a God or something… Strangely, they were simply on a large island floating in the middle of nowhere. It was raining, and forests flowed with the wind. It was a light storm, yet it was so light that it seemed so tranquil.

Captain Falcon grabbed the map again while enjoying the view. "What was this place called again? Oh yeah, the Artifact of Temples… no, the Temple of Artifacts… yeah…"

Samus jumped out of her ship as her ship suddenly disappeared. "It's portable, don't worry about it. Let's get back to Phazon Mines," she said. Suddenly there was a loud roar. A quick shadow of a black dragon flew past the ground, and shrieked once again.

"Shit…"

The dragon was hovering in the sky, glaring at Samus. "So, we meet again Samus…"

"Ridley… I have to get back to Phazon Mines."

"There is no escape from me! I will kill you… crush you… make you feel the pain that I have felt every time you defeated me… Every time I was revived… I felt that pain. I shall have my revenge with the new powers I have gained now!"

"New powers?"

"Yes, Samus… I will finally kill you, and your little friend too!"

"Little friend?" yelled Captain Falcon. Ridley ignored him.

"Face me with all you have, Samus… Nothing will allow you to defeat me. I am invincible!" He shot a blast of fire at Samus and Captain Falcon, who both dodged to the side.

"This is going to be a long day…" groaned Captain Falcon.


	4. Chapter 4: Ridley and Kraid

Hack: Not much to say, cept the fic's been going pretty well...

* * *

**Chapter 4: Ridley and Kraid**

Fox rolled across the field to narrowly dodge a slash attack from the violet pirate. "Just who are you guys?"

"Don't you know? We are the four troopers… I am the Wave Trooper," the pirate said as he shot a violet eletric shot at Captain Falcon. He dodged it again by jumping over it, but he felt a burning laser on his chest and fell.

The red pirate clicked his gun. "And I am the Plasma Trooper. We can only be defeated by the same elemental powers as our own…" He was immediately struck in the face with a well-placed fireball from Luigi, who was smiling about the Plasma Trooper's stupidity.

"You idiot!" yelled the yellow pirate. "You just gave them our weakness!"

"Quiet, Power Trooper! This is not the time to argue!" the white pirate replied.

"Whatever, Ice Trooper." The Power Trooper's face felt an enormous pink arm punch across his face, and he fell down, sliding towards the wall. He immediately recovered to see the Jigglypuff ready for more action.

Luigi jumped up to the Plasma Trooper and quickly shot a charged fireball again. Able to read his move, the pirate slid to the side and shot a fire shot of his own at Luigi. Luigi jumped over the shot, and landed in front of the Plasma Trooper. He punched the Plasma Trooper upwards in the chin, and immediately jumped up. He threw a quick karate chop that connected, sending the pirate flying into the wall.

"Damn plumber…" the Plasma Trooper grumbled as he slowly got up. Luigi silently charged a powerful fireball, and sent it flying into the pirate's face. Unable to dodge it, the Plasma Trooper took the full blow and burned into ashes, screaming.

Jigglypuff threw another quick pound attack at the Power Trooper, just to have it cut. The Power Trooper threw another horizontal slash, but Jigglypuff ducked by flattening herself out, and dodged the slash. She stretched her leg and kicked the pirate with it, tripping him. She quickly used head butt to send the pirate flying upwards and jumped up to him, swinging her arm upwards in an arc. The Power Trooper held his sabers in a defending position, but Jigglypuff's arm pierced through the sabers and connected, pushing the pirate further up. She puffed upwards to find her body touching the trooper's body.

"What the hell are you trying to do, rape…"

REST!

Jigglypuff quickly fell asleep, setting the Power Trooper on fire. He was sent flying towards the wall and knocked unconscious.

Fox's match was much more difficult, as he faced two pirates. He short hopped to dodge one saber, and he saw another saber coming towards his face. He swerved his body around to lower his altitude, dodging both sabers. He quickly pulled out his blaster and shot the Wave Trooper as many times as he could. Possessing the power of electricity, the blaster shots knocked out the trooper quickly after the eleventh shot.

The Ice Trooper stabbed his saber forward towards Fox. Fox sidestepped the attack, and saw a portion of the ground turn into ice. He jumped over the Ice Trooper and swung his staff at his back, but the pirate countered with his other saber. Fox kicked off the pirate's back and landed directly behind him. He struck the pirate's right waist with his staff, and then used the other end of his staff to strike the other waist. He held his staff to his right and spun it vertically at high velocities. Every time the staff finished rotating once, the pirate's face was slapped by one end of the staff. Fox brought his staff to his other side, striking the pirate's face downward. The Ice Trooper kneeled down, stunned. Fox took this opportunity to jump up and charge his staff. He slammed it against the Ice Trooper's stomach, but he was clearly not dead. Knowing that the pirate must be defeated with ice, Fox pointed his staff at the unconscious Ice Trooper and blew mists of ice. The pirate disappeared in white smoke as he placed his staff back on his back.

The Omega Pirate immediately reappeared. "I SEE YOU WERE ABLE TO DISPATCH MY SERVANTS. I ADMIRE YOU FOR THAT. BUT NOW I AM PERFECTLY FINE NOW. MY PHAZON ARMOR IS BACK BY RECHARGING IT WITH PHAZON, CLOAKED. YOU SEE, THERE IS NO WAY TO DEFEAT ME."

"Oh my god… we went through all that crap… just to start all over again…" said Fox. The two others nodded.

"WHEN I AM CLOAKED, I AM IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION. ONLY SOMETHING THAT CAN SEE THIS DIMENSION CAN DAMAGE ME."

"Don't worry, guys," Luigi assured his friends. "We'll find a way."

* * *

Ridley swept over the entire temple, peppering exploding bombs everywhere on it. Samus and Captain Falcon narrowly avoided all of the bombs. 

"I see your partner is as agile as you… Why don't I give you a test of endurance, little boy?" said Ridley.

"I'm not your average little boy. I am the famed, super, and powerful Captain Falcon! Without me and my sexiness, nobody would be able to do anything!"

"Is that so? I don't find you very sexy..." asked Ridley. He brought his claws to his red glowing chest and slashed forward in the air. Blue shockwaves swept across the entire temple, catching both smashers off guard. Samus was perfectly fine in her suit, but Falcon was not so lucky.

"Ow…" he groaned as he held his bleeding chest in pain.

"You ok? There's no time to groan about injuries right now. Ridley is no joke," said Samus. She switched her beam, so the beam indicator on her arm cannon said, "Plasma Beam." _Let's see if he can still stand the Plasma Beam…_

She charged her plasma beam, just as she did in the fight with the space pirates. Rather than shooting the flamethrower, however, she simply released the charged shot at Ridley's chest. Before the lightning plasma shot reached Ridley's chest, he quickly swiped it, feeling no pain at all. What was more intriguing was the fact that the shot changed directions! The shot returned to Samus and struck her chest. The burning pain pierced through her chest and she felt like she was struck by millions of fire quills all over her body. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground, almost unconscious from that one blow.

And to think that it all happened in less than half a second… That's how fast the plasma beam shots travel through the air.

Captain Falcon ran up to Samus. "Samus! Are you ok, babe?"

"Idiot! Pay attention to Ridley, damn it! I'm ok!" said Samus as she got up, tapping her arm cannon. It now said "Annihilator Beam: 250 light 250 dark." She silently charged another shot from her Annihilator Beam.

Ridley shot another beam of fire at Falcon. He swiftly dodged the beam and sped towards Ridley with his great speed. Captain Falcon jumped to Ridley, ready to attack. Ridley swept his claws at Captain Falcon, but he jumped through and landed on Ridley's vulnerable chest. Captain Falcon landed a quick kick on Ridley's chest. Then he threw millions upon millions of punches with blazes of fire on it. Several surges of burning pain flowed through Ridley as he screamed. Ridley grabbed Falcon and threw him away from the temple, leaving Falcon to fall into the abyss below.

Samus acted quickly. She aimed her cannon at Ridley and cried, "Sonic Boom!" Immediately, all sound at the temple was blocked off. Nobody could hear Ridley's screeches, Falcon's screams, Samus's cries, or the rain landing on the temple. The image of Ridley's chest was disfigured, as if he was struck by sound. In fact, he actually was struck by sound.

Ridley cried in pain as he started to fall down, holding his chest with his claws. Samus ran towards the edge and shot out her grappling beam at Captain Falcon. She quickly reeled him in and threw him back to the center of the temple. His head banged on the wall.

"Ow… couldn't you just let me stand?" groaned Falcon.

"No time for that!" cried Samus. Ridley flew up once again, staggering. He hovered above Samus, avoiding all of her homing annihilator beam shots made by sound. He quickly landed on the temple and swung his spiky tail across the entire temple. Ready for this attack, Samus somersaulted over it. Again, Falcon was not so lucky as he was tripped, legs impaled now.

Samus jumped in midair towards Ridley. She quickly shot a Super Missile, which Ridley deflected. She transformed into a morph ball and boosted between Ridley's legs, planting a power bomb, but Ridley took flight again to avoid the explosion. Samus appeared in front of him, still somersaulting. A force field of green energy surrounded her as she jumped into Ridley's chest. Captain Falcon smiled.

"Go Samus! Screw Attack that bastard!"

Samus flew through Ridley's weak spot with the screw attack. Ridley cried once again in pain, but he immediately whirled around and grabbed Samus, glaring at her.

"Samus!" Captain Falcon cried, but Ridley was too far away to attack. _If only if I had projectiles like everyone else I can help her… damn it…_ Falcon could only watch as Ridley staggered, and started to fall down.

"You idiot! Get back to Omega Pirate! Find a way to stop him! Don't worry about me, I'll be back!"

"Samus!" Captain Falcon ran towards the edge to see Ridley falling, with Samus in his hands. He seemed to be mouthing some words, but Falcon couldn't care less. Ridley immediately exploded, and neither was to be seen. Captain Falcon sat down and almost cried.

_Hey, you're the optimistic, bragging cocky guy. Just lighten up and go back to help everyone else. It's what Samus wants._

_But… Samus is dead._

_Hell no. Samus said that she'd be back. She TOLD you to help everyone else. I think she'd blow you up if you didn't._

_Meh…_

Captain Falcon looked down at where the explosion occurred. "Samus, you better fucking get back… and soon, babe." He sped off with the map in hand, towards Phazon Mines. A light voice was heard from below.

"Don't worry, I'm coming back… you flirt."

* * *

Fox, Jigglypuff, and Luigi had destroyed Omega Pirate's Phazon armors four times now, and he still didn't seem to come close to death, even after restoring his phazon armor four times flawlessly. The smashers constantly scanned for any weaknesses at all, but were clearly failing at the moment. 

"YOU FOOLS, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THIS BATTLE IS ALREADY WON?" yelled Omega Pirate. "YOU ALL ARE GROWING TIRED, YET I WILL NEVER GROW TIRED. I AM INVINCIBLE!!!"

Fox was sweating. They've been fighting for over two hours now, and they were all extremely tired. _There must be a weakness… There just HAS to be! Ah!_ Fox looked at the Phazon pools. It's true that they cannot actually destroy him, but they can _stop_ him from attacking. _When all of his Phazon armor is gone, he can't do anything at all… he's invincible, but at the same time harmless until he gets it back. If we can stop him from getting it back…_

"Luigi. Jigglypuff," Fox whispered to them. "I have a way to stop him. We have to prevent him from getting any more Phazon to supply himself with armor. We have to find a way to destroy all of the Phazon lying around. But it's easier said than done."

"Easier said than done?" said Luigi. "Pfff, in this case I'd say easier done than said! Just wait, I have a way."

The Omega Pirate reappeared with his new armor for the fifth time, ready for the fifth assault.

"You guys hold him off and get busy destroying his armor, I'll get rid of the Phazon in seconds," said Luigi. The two others nodded.

"AGAIN YOU TRY TO DESTROY MY ARMOR, AND AGAIN IT'LL END IN A FUTILE EFFORT. I SHALL RESTORE MY ARMOR AGAIN AND AGAIN! I AM INVINCIBLE!"

Fox responded by appearing between the pirate's legs and swinging his staff around in a full circle, destroying the Omega Pirate's two knee pads. Jigglypuff jumped on his elbow armor and used Mega Punch on it, destroying it with one blow. She quickly bounced to the other and destroyed it too.

Omega Pirate transformed into his skeletal form once again and disappeared, into the unknown dimension. Fox and Jigglypuff smiled. "It's true that you're invincible, but you're now a harmless skeleton now stuck in another dimension, with no Phazon to feed yourself off of," said Fox.

If the Omega Pirate were in the real world, he'd obviously be very angry with Fox and roar at him. But of course that didn't happen. Fox and Jigglypuff looked back at Luigi, who was holding a vacuum cleaner with the name "Poltergust 3000." The bag was transparent, and much blue substance was seen in it. It was obviously Phazon that Luigi sucked up.

"Nice going, Luigi."

"That was great!"

"No problem, I was just doing what I can do," said Luigi. "What's taking Samus and Captain Falcon so long?"

Coincidentally, Captain Falcon crashed right through the door at blazing speeds and saw the three others. "Where's Omega Pirate?" he asked anxiously.

"Not dead, still alive, stuck in another dimension with no Phazon to restore himself with," Fox smirked.

Suddenly, there was another roar. "Oh my god… another battle?" groaned Luigi. "I hate this… there's too much fighting."

"Captain Falcon, where's Samus?" asked Jigglypuff.

Captain Falcon paused silently. Then he replied, "She'll be back soon. She said so. She's taking care of Ridley, our main enemy here. Apparently he was the main villain here that had the power of the Endowment of whatever…"

"Then our job's done! But something else is coming…"

A monstrous lizard appeared on top of the mines. His yellow stomach had three belly buttons, each with a spike on it. Four eyes took their place on his face, and his hands had outrageously long nails.

"Ridley… You told me that you'd be able to take care of everyone… Now I, Kraid, shall finish the job for you! I may not have the power of the Endowment of Exigency, but I am still strong enough to destroy them!" His hands shots hundreds upon hundreds of spikes over the four smashers. Because there were so many, there was no room to dodge. All there was to do was defend…

"Shit! We're so fucking screwed!" yelled Captain Falcon.

"Just shut up and defend yourself for your life!" yelled Fox.

Suddenly, a blue beam shot across the entire field, dissolving every single spike. Samus seemed to teleport right in front of the smashers. She shot millions of blue shots at Kraid's eyes, causing him to roar in pain and open his mouth. She teleported on top of one of the damaged buildings, took aim, and fired several super missiles into his mouth. Painful explosions from Kraid's stomach were heard.

"Ouch…" the four other smashers groaned.

Samus charged another blue shot, and fired a familiar substance into Kraid's mouth. His stomach grew larger and larger and larger. Unsure, the four other smashers backed off. Samus teleported and grabbed all four smashers, and threw them behind a wall. She teleported behind the wall as Kraid exploded as disgusting material and Phazon flew everywhere.

Luckily, the wall that the smashers were hiding behind blocked all of the disgusting things.

"Samus! You came back!" said Captain Falcon.

"Told you I'd come back," Samus replied. The other smashers looked at her in confusion. Rather than wearing her normal orange varia suit, she was wearing a suit that looked exactly like her original suit, except it was silver now. Black light erupted from each of her joints, and her arm cannon was split open, revealing Phazon inside it. The reader said, "Phazon Beam."

"Holy shit, Samus! How did you get that?" asked Falcon.

"I don't know, it just happened…"

"Nice explanation…" said Fox.

"I'm serious!"

"Ok, whatever. You're so damn fast and powerful now though… Crazy."

"I know!" exclaimed Captain Falcon. "You totally OWNED Kraid in matters of seconds!"

"That was totally amazing!" complimented Jigglypuff.

"Well… yeah… but I have my ship now. I think we're finished in Tallon IV."

"What about Zebes?" asked Luigi.

"I'm pretty sure it was Ridley that we were supposed to destroy, and I destroyed Ridley."

"Awesome!"

"One down, nine to go… Then the final boss…" said Samus.

"How do you know?"

"Ridley told me before he died. I don't know, I guess it's just his last words. Oh well."

Jigglypuff blinked. "So how are we going to find out where to go next?"

Fox shrugged. "I guess we'll just wander around until a random world shows up, then see if anyone there has the powers."

"All right, let's go to Samus's ship then!" yelled Captain Falcon. The five smashers gave each other high fives, and all but Fox walked off to Samus's ship hovering just at the exit of Phazon Mines. Fox hopped on the hidden Arwing and entered the cockpit. He turned on the intercom and said, "Samus." The intercom showed a picture of the inside of Samus's ship, with Samus sitting at the manning room.

"All right there, Samus?" asked Fox.

"Yeah, the three others are a lot more happier with the space here. But my ship is more defensive, so if there's an attack, I'll have to rely on you."

"Will do. Don't worry." Fox and Samus then took off in their ships, heading out into Outer Space. The two ships stayed together, and communicated with the intercoms on where to go next.

Fox pushed a couple buttons on the control panel and looked at the map of the area around them. He saw a picture of another world that they were approaching. They'd be there in about four hours.

"I found another world, Samus," said Fox through the intercom.

Samus grinned. "Yeah, but what's it named?"

Fox grinned as well. "Luigi'll be happy to be back at his home in Mushroom Kingdom."


	5. Chapter 5: The Star Rod

Hack: Another chapter, and one of the parts here is ripped off from ZeekeIV's Super Smash Bros. Odyssey, chapter 13. I suggest you read his story, it's really good! One of the best SSBM fics I have ever read, because it's funny (sometimes in a perverted way), good character development, and a very very gripping plot. Thing is, he hardly updates, but it's always worth it )

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Star Rod**

A man dressed in a black cloak appeared from the darkness. "We have not received word from Ridley… Has he dealt with those smashers yet?"

Another man clothed in black clothing except with claws and a disfigured head walked up to the cloaked man. "I feel that he hasn't completed his task. If he didn't, we must go there and execute him."

"But maybe we don't need to execute him. Maybe it's been already done for us."

"Still… Get his carcass. We could use his powers among ourselves and put it to good use. He was foolish to only tap the skin of the powers… He never unleashed its full potential."

"Yes, well… The one in Mushroom Kingdom is much more intelligent and I suppose she'll be much more of a threat to the smashers… They better stick with the plan…"

"But I sense what Ridley has done… he has actually been quite useful…"

"Yes, yes, more power… I lust for power… power to destroy what had destroyed me…"

"No, no, no, no, the secret plan that Ridley had to do… He must be successful. You can tell. But anyways, go get his carcass."

"Must I? Surely you have more strength than me… I am only a dark druid, and just because I have the powers to unleash the full potential of Ereshkigal does not mean I have the physical strength to carry a dragon…"

"Maybe so, but I have higher authority over you. I am the third highest on the tier, after Metaknight and the master. This is certainly higher than you. Where are you again… Ah, yes… You are second from the bottom. Only a step higher than that disgusting lizard. Not so powerful, are you Nergal?"

"Are you underestimating my powers?"

"Maybe so, but I command you to go get Ridley. If you don't, I shall dispose of you right there on the spot."

"You… You scum!" Nergal yelled. He opened his arms wide and cried, "Flux!" A sphere of dark matter appeared in front of him and dissolved into the ground. A large symbol appeared on the ground where the man stood. The dark material leaked out of the symbol and flew towards him.

He immediately spun in a wide circle. All of the dark orbs were immediately deflected back at Nergal. Nergal teleported and appeared behind the man. However, he quickly swerved around and grabbed Nergal by the neck.

"I am warning you, I am more powerful than you," the man said.

"Scum… If I had more power… the power I lusted… If only if Eliwood did not defeat me with his Durandal… I would be able to unleash my dragons on you!"

"But you don't have that power. If you don't go right now, I shall destroy your neck right here, right now with my special abilities."

"I shall get the power from Ridley… then I shall become more powerful than you and destroy you!" Nergal charged another dark spell when a blur of violet and black flew between the two.

"People, people, there is no need for violence!" another sorcerer said. He had violet skin and more black clothing, but it was not a cloak. He did have a cape, however. He immediately separated the two with his arm and another spell.

"What kind of thing are you quarreling over? If you are quarreling over who is to get Ridley, you should have gotten it over with. The master is not very pleased, as he has seen your quarreling and was forced to send Wolf instead. Therefore, Wolf was forced to abort his attack mission on Fox's Arwing and sent to Tallon IV. The next time this happens, the master will without doubt punish the both of you."

The two men sighed in disappointment. Nergal whirled around at the other. "I am telling you this right now, if you don't let me have the power I lust for, you shall meet your end!"

"Hmph, as if. I bet you even that blundering fool Captain Falcon can defeat you one on one, because he was able to defeat my underlings. And you are, without doubt, weaker than them…"

"You scum… I shall kill you one day…" Then Nergal immediately disappeared.

"Well then, we should have better relationships in the Ring of Darkness! I see that I must return to Hyrule for the moment."

"You go do that, then."

* * *

Captain Falcon and Luigi appeared on separate sides of the stage Final Destination. An announcer yelled, "This is a two-stock match between Captain Falcon and Luigi. Three, Two, One, GO!" 

The moment it said 'GO', they both sprung into action, running towards each other. Captain Falcon quickly short hopped and threw his legs down at Luigi. Luigi side-dodged to avoid it, and grabbed Falcon. He threw Falcon up and followed him by jumping. He flip-kicked Falcon twice in the air and finally threw his legs at Falcon to the side, sending him off the stage. Falcon quickly jumped to recover back on the stage and jumped to Luigi. He lightly kicked him twice and finally threw his knee at Luigi's stomach, sending Luigi flying. Luigi used a green missile to reach the edge and grabbed it. Captain Falcon jumped off and threw his legs downwards at Luigi again; his legs finally found their mark. Luigi plummeted down into the abyss and found himself on another platform, with one less stock.

Luigi quickly shot two fireballs at Captain Falcon and held his arms out horizontally. He spun at high velocities and quickly slid towards the stunned Falcon. The moment he reached Falcon, he opened out his arms and struck Falcon in the face. He quickly short-hopped and karate-chopped Falcon farther away from the stage. Falcon quickly reached the edge with a Falcon Dive and dodged Luigi's drill spike. He climbed back on the stage and turned to the direction of Luigi. Luigi shot another fireball that accurately found its mark and used a green missile, aimed at Falcon.

MISFIRE!

Luigi's butt lit on fire, and a large explosion found its place. Luigi was sent flying into Falcon like a green missile, and found himself back on the stage. Captain Falcon was, put simply, pwned. Captain Falcon materialized on the center of the stage and quickly executed a blazing Falcon Kick. Luigi jumped over him and stuck out his leg in a sex kick (sex kick: a kick where someone leaves his/her leg out stationary. Anyone touching that person's leg whenever it is out takes damage, although it's light.). His leg landed on Captain Falcon's face, pushing him towards the edge again. Luigi swiftly wavedashed towards Falcon and used his blazing super jump punch!

SUPER CHEAP JUMP PUNCH!

But Luigi wasn't as lucky as he was with the misfire. Captain Falcon read his moves and wavedashed back to avoid it. Luigi was helplessly vulnerable as he fell back to the floor. Falcon acted quickly. He predicted Luigi's landing spot, stood beside it, and held his arm back.

"Falcooooooooooooooon…" he said. Luigi wore an expression of shock, but couldn't do anything to move out of the way.

"PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!" he cried as he released a fully charged Falcon Punch on the helpless Luigi. Luigi was, put simply, pwned. This time, however, he lost his last stock, thus ending the match between Luigi and Captain Falcon.

* * *

Captain Falcon and Luigi walked into the small lobby of Samus's ship to see Jigglypuff sleeping and Samus manning the ship. 

"Damn, that was a nice match… a bit too short, though…" said Luigi, giving Falcon a hand shake.

"You know it. You know I'm the man. So you lose!"

Luigi wasn't offended by Falcon's comments, but he countered his taunts with: "Can't help getting cocky about winning though… Especially since Fox beat you."

"Quiet, fool. I know my sexy moves are too irresistible for the girls." Falcon quickly winked at Samus.

Without looking back, Samus instinctively held her right arm over her shoulder and accurately shot a missile that found its target: Falcon's face.

"How was practice? Good enough?" she asked, ignoring Falcon's cries of pain.

"Eh, I don't think it was very necessary. The fight with Omega Pirate was practice enough."

"Well go wake up Jigglypuff. We're almost at Mushroom Kingdom." She tapped her intercom above the window. "Fox, do you read me?"

No reply. She tapped it again. "Fox?"

The face of Fox appeared. "Sorry, Samus. I'm kinda busy, there's this huge meteori-"

The intercom went out. Samus's eyes widened in shock. "Fox? Are you there?"

Luigi ran up to the intercom. "Fox? He's gone? Shit!"

"Don't worry," Captain Falcon said. "I'm sure he'll be fine. A meteorite has probably just hit him. There's a planet nearby that I saw his Arwing fall in, and I'm sure there's an emergency exit."

"Is that planet Mushroom Kingdom?"

"…You know it, sexy!" One can easily guess what happened to Captain Falcon.

"All right," said Samus. "Go wake up Jigglypuff. We'll be there in matters of minutes. Get ready!" Luigi ran off to wake up Jigglypuff while Captain Falcon groaned in pain.

* * *

Fox looked at his peaceful surroundings. The sky was completely clear, save for the smoke coming out from his crashed Arwing, and seagulls were flying around everywhere. Miniscule islands were visible all around him. It seemed like he was on a large island with a huge mountain on the center. He turned around to look at the mountain, remembering how it looked like the head of… 

"…Donkey Kong?" he said to himself. The mouth of the mountain was right in front of him, and he didn't hesitate to run through. He instantly gasped at the view of the beautiful jungle that lay before him. Green, tall trees covered the skies, yet the sunrays still managed to pierce through to brighten it up. The lakes shone with the sun, at the base of grand waterfalls. And most peculiar of all, there were cabins spaced out in various spots, and an occasional tree house. One particular one had loud, rap music booming out of it. Although he was practically a mile away, he could make out the words from the music. Yes, the music was that loud.

_IF YOU KNOW THE WORDS_

_YOU CAN JOIN IN TOO_

_PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER_

_IF YOU WANT TO CLAP_

_AS WE TAKE YOU THROUGH_

_THIS MONKEY RAP!_

Out of curiosity, Fox dashed towards the treehouse at blinding speeds, the rap becoming louder and louder as he approached it.

_HUH!_

_DK_

_DONKEY KONG!_

_HE'S THE LEADER OF THE BUNCH_

_YOU KNOW HIM WELL_

_HE'S FINALLY BACK_

_TO KICK SOME TAIL_

Fox swiftly climbed up the tree house via the ladder, and saw Donkey Kong and another small red-capped chimp dancing to a radio, which is obviously the source of the rap.

_HE'S BIGGER, FASTER,_

_AND STRONGER TOO_

_HE'S THE FIRST MEMBER_

_OF THE D.K. CREW!_

_HUH!_

_DK_

_DONKEY KONG!_

_DK_

_DONKEY KONG IS HERE!_

"Donkey Kong?" asked Fox, but neither monkeys seemed to notice him. Fox yelled his name again.

"DONKEY KONG!"

But the radio was far too loud for either monkey to hear him. Fox felt a cane tap his shoulder. He turned to see another monkey, but he seemed to be much, much older because of the wrinkles on his face and his lengthy white beard.

"Allow me, sonny," he said. "They do this so much, I'm used to it. I know exactly how to get their attention."

The old monkey tapped Donkey Kong on his shoulder, but DK immediately swerved with the music, sticking his leg out. If the older monkey had not ducked, his face would have gotten kicked. The monkey quickly tripped DK with his cane and with quick agility, jumped on DK's chest. He whacked DK on the head with his cane several times before DK had a chance to notice what was going on. The other younger ape stopped dancing, and watched DK get murdered by the elder one.

"Ow…" he said as he watched. Fox stood there stunned, amazed by how such an old monkey could defeat DK so easily.

"Ow, Cranky, you didn't have to beat me up so hard…" DK said, scratching his head and not yet noticing Fox, who was in plain sight.

"Well there's no other choice, sonny! In my times, our elders spanked us every time we showed disrespect! Think of me as a kinder elder, as I do not spank you one million times out of the million times you disrespect your elders!" said Cranky.

"OK, OK…" DK groaned as Cranky jumped off the tree house without hurting himself.

"By the way, you've been leaving a visitor waiting for quite some time…" said Cranky. DK finally looked to his left to see Fox standing there, waiting for an answer.

"Oh, hey Fox!"

"About time, Donkey Kong! Treat your visitors with respect! In my times, we always greeted our visitors the moment they walked in to our homes!" said Cranky. DK ignored him, responding by shoving Cranky out of the way violently, yet playfully.

"Hey, Donkey Kong," Fox replied with a smile. "Long time no see. And the first time I see you in months, I see the big, fast, strong ape destroyed by an 80 year old monkey. How ironic."

DK scoffed. "The only reason I don't beat him up is because he's my relative. I don't want to kill him, since he's nearing the end of his life. His wife died a couple years ago, and he's just recovered. Yeah, he's beaten me up a lot, but he wasn't as swift as before… He even limps now."

Fox shook his head. "Well, all lives come to an end."

"Why are you here anyways?"

"I'm traveling around the universe to dispose of some villains with some new powers. Know anyone around here like that?"

The younger chimp with a red hat popped up between DK and Fox, bouncing on his tail. "But there's King K. Rool! He's even stupider than Donkey here, so I doubt he'll cause trouble!"

DK playfully slapped the younger chimp. "Oh yeah, this is Diddy Kong, my nephew, and that old man you saw was Cranky Kong. All relatives, everyone that lives here."

Fox smiled with interest. "Really? Like who?"

"Oh, like Lanky, Dixie, Tiny, Chunky, Kiddy, Candy, and more. We're all named Kong."

"Interesting. I really like where you live," Fox commented. "It's really nice, the atmosphere. It's definitely more peaceful here than in the Great Fox, where you see Falco getting into a huge fight every minute every day…" Suddenly, Fox's stomach made a loud growl.

DK chuckled. "You must be hungry," he said. "But all we have that you'd probably like are bananas, I can lead you to my banana hoard if you'd like."

Fox smiled. "Thanks."

Suddenly, the earth violently rumbled. "What the hell was that?" yelled Fox over the booming earthquake.

"Darn… Just the right timing, King K. Rool…"

* * *

The Mushroom Kingdom was the home of the mascot of Nintendo, the jump and hammer hero Mario. He was very famous for saving Princess Peach from the villainous Koopa or Bowser, king of the Koopas (walking turtles) many times. Because of all of the publicity, however, Mario always strived for a vacation. Every time, something always got in the way that pushed him into publicity or another adventure, but it seems that he was finally successful this time. 

This was why Mario was nowhere to be seen around his own house when Luigi led Samus, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon there.

"Out on a vacation. Don't bother to try contacting me. –Mario" Luigi read the letter on the door. He grabbed some keys from his pockets and inserted them into the keyhole of his door, and then the four smashers walked in.

For a celebrity's house, it certainly wasn't very pleasurable. It looked more like a two-room cabin rather than a mansion, with a small living room and a smaller bedroom with a pair of bunk beds, one red and one green.

"This is my house, or actually Mario's house," said Luigi.

"Geez, your bro is so popular, yet you don't have a proper celebrity's house! My home can totally pwn yours!" bragged Captain Falcon.

"Yeah, well… Mario doesn't like being that popular. His life-long ambition practically was to go on a normal vacation, away from adventuring," said Luigi. "He still likes adventuring, and beating up Bowser, but he definitely deserves a break. He made several attempts to go on a vacation, like to Delfino Isle and Bean Bean Kingdom, but something always happened in each one that forced him into another adventure."

"Wow…" said Jigglypuff. "I feel sorry for your brother…"

"Eh, it's ok. It looks like Mario finally got what he deserved. He's been out for three months too, and he might come back any time soon." Each of the smashers sat at a chair around the small table in the living room.

"So, what do you think we'll do about Fox?" asked Luigi.

"He's strong, I'm sure he's up and alive, kicking ass right now," said Captain Falcon. "Despite the fact that I'm the bomb."

"Even though he totally murdered you back in the mansion?" asked Samus, smirking.

"Shut up, dude! I was totally holding back, his shine combo just threw me off!"

"Pfft, yeah right."

"Anyways, I think we should continue on. I have a gut feeling that we'll see Fox again sometime."

"I agree," replied Luigi.

"His Arwing also fell towards this planet, but on a totally different location," said Samus.

"I'm sure he's up and alive, kicking ass right now," Falcon repeated.

"Ok, well, we'll search around this planet. I'm sure there are some villains I know that we have to defeat, and they definitely won't stay low," said Luigi.

"Bowser?" asked Jigglypuff. "He's been Mario's enemy for a long time, and he probably wants Mario dead."

"Bowser wanting Mario dead? Hell no," answered Luigi. "Well… he did before, but now they're friends… more like friendly rivals. These days, Bowser kidnaps Peach just to have a fair fight with Mario, to show that he's stronger. But he doesn't use any death traps or such anymore. I'm sure he doesn't want Mario dead…"

"Who else might have a grudge then?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I'm not sure, that person's name isn't on the top of my head, but I think we'll be able to find that person soon… For now, let's go to Princess Peach's castle. She seems to be the target of most of Mario's enemies all the time," said Luigi. The other nodded as they all got up from their chairs and walked out of his house.

* * *

Star Haven was the source of all wishes that come true in Mushroom Kingdom. All those that pray to the stars get their answers from the stars. In a way, one can call Star Haven the heaven of Mushroom Kingdom. 

Rumors say that there was an object called the Star Rod, which was rumored to be able to make any wish come true. This rumor was confirmed when Bowser one day stole the star rod and successfully defeated Mario and kidnapped Peach, and thus sealing the seven star spirits.

By the way, the seven star spirits were basically the 'gods' of the star haven. They were the guardians of the star rod. They are Eldstar, Mamar, Skolar, Muskular, Misstar, Klevar, and Kalmar.

There were also two honored stars because they had both aided Mario in his adventures to save Mushroom Kingdom, in differing ways and times. One was named Geno, who helped defeat the almighty Smithy in the form of a powerful doll. Smithy was creating infinite weapons to rule the kingdom. Another was Twink, who was a young starkid that sent messages to Mario from Peach about the locations of the trapped star spirits back then, and also helped Peach find inside information while trapped in Bowser's castle.

Geno entered the Sanctuary, the honored place where the seven star spirits stayed to grant wishes and guard the star rod. The star spirits turned from their pedestals, looking at Geno.

Geno immediately bowed down to the star spirits. "Honorable ones, I apologize for treading into your sanctuary, as I have information that I have fear for."

The star spirit with glasses, named Klevar, looked at Geno with curiosity. "Really? What is it that you fear?"

Geno bowed again. "Honorable Klevar, I have received a prophecy in my dreams… one of unimaginable power. I have seen villains all over the universe, gathering power, enough to defeat our heroes. One is in Mushroom Kingdom right now, and I fear that she will be able to take the star rod to defeat our allies."

"Geno… This is troubling news. If the star rod is taken, then what chaos will happen? The only time it had happened was when Bowser took it, and he destroyed Mario from the beginning!" the purple star, Skolar, said.

"But Skolar, we have made several barriers to protect the star haven. I don't think that she will be able to take the star rod under our supervision, let alone get up here in the first place," The mustached-one said.

"Well, Kalmar has a point. We don't have anything to worry about."

"Muskular, we should at least keep a sharper watch over Star Haven, to make sure nothing happens."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash of glass. A green-skinned witch flew through the window on a broomstick, cackling. She was followed by a strange red-coated figure, also green-skinned.

"What the… Who are you?" asked one of the star spirits.

The witch cackled again. "The witch that will rule over the entire planet!" She took out her personal wand and bolts of lightning flew out of it, striking the star spirit. She quickly pointed her wand at the star rod and levitated it, bringing it towards her. The star spirits and Geno were completely powerless.

"But how did you get here?" gasped Geno.

"The new powers I had received… With the star rod, I can gain even more, and defeat those stupid Mario Brothers!" screamed the witch. "But I shall be going now, after leaving behind a present…"

She swiftly flew away on her broomstick before anyone else could do anything. The smaller creature held an upside-down vacuum cleaner on his head, and shot several green energy bombs everywhere on the star haven. He quickly flew away afterwards with his jetpack, but not before screeching,

"I HAVE FURY!"

* * *

Geno was the only one left conscious on the star haven. The star spirits laid on their pedestals, unconscious, and various stars laid down everywhere on the town. 

"Horrible… This is just horrible..." he muttered as he gave a quick cough from exhaustion. "That witch… I must defeat her. I must stop her before anything else can possibly happen." He looked over the entire kingdom, and saw the peaceful village of Rose Town. He looked through the Inn and saw a small kid playing with a wooden doll with a toy gun and a blue hat.

"There it is… Looks like I'll be seeing you again soon in my temporary physical form, Mario…" said Geno as he flew down to occupy the doll.


	6. Chapter 6: Super Mario RPG Craziness!

Hack: Wow, I'm actually at the 6th chapter! And everything should get more intense as the story progresses… Geno's here! Awesome!

By the way, Geno's from Super Mario RPG, Twink is from Paper Mario, and Nergal is from Fire Emblem.

And this chapter is shorter than average, so don't expect too much.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Super Mario RPG Craziness!**

The castle of Mushroom Kingdom stood up high above all of the Mushroom Kingdom. One standing miles away from it can always see the red brick roof and the beautiful stained glass of a pink-dressed princess below it. The castle walls were made of white marble. Surrounding it lay a clear blue circular river around it, with a wide bridge suspended for guests to enter. A short yellow sidewalk trailed from the bridge and into one of the many exits of Toad Town, the most populated and civilized town in Mushroom Kingdom, especially because it's the town surrounding the kingdom's castle.

It is so popular and busy that even the four smashers had spent quite longer than an hour trying to get to Peach's Castle, where the distance from their starting point can be covered by walking for half an hour without all the traffic.

"Stupid toads…" murmured Captain Falcon as he tiptoed around the crowds of toads around him, being careful not to step on any of them. It was so crowded that the short citizens of Toad Town didn't take Falcon into notice, as from their perspective he'd look like a tall monster, outclassing them in height. "I really wish I could stomp on them, but I'd get a bad reputation…"

"Get used to it," said Luigi. "I take this route all the time. Normally, Mario and I would jump from the buildings, but none of you guys can jump as well as us to take the shortcut, so we have to take the long way…"

"Why don't the toads recognize you if you're the brother of someone famous?" asked Jigglypuff. "Just out of curiosity."

"Because I'm just the brother," Luigi replied. "I'm always overshadowed by Mario since he does all the rescuing and such."

"Oh… sorry…"

"No, don't bother. It happens so much, it doesn't even matter to me anymore. I never even saved the princess or anything famous, that's Mario's job. Once I purged my mansion of ghosts and rescued my brother, but nobody really knew about it, so…"

"Dude, is that it?" asked Falcon as he pointed to a gate with the top of the castle a ways behind it.

"Yeah, definitely. Let's go," Luigi replied. He looked at the skies that were steadily growing darker, but only around the castle. _This is not good… I knew something bad would happen…_

_

* * *

_

Outside behind the castle lay a small courtyard with a tennis court that had two female players on it. They had not noticed the darker clouds above them.

Princess Peach, wearing her sports clothing, ran back and forth on her side of the court, rallying the tennis ball with Princess Daisy back and forth. "Daisy! You've really gotten a lot better!" she exclaimed.

Daisy ran up to the net and returned the ball. "Yeah, I've been practicing a lot so I can actually be good enough to have a chance in the tournaments. Last year, I so like, totally got crushed by Diddy Kong in the first round. Three love sets... (means 3-0) It was really embarassing. I didn't win any games in that match…"

"Well he's a really fast player, you have to know how to counter his speed," said Peach as she hit the ball at an upward angle in a lob, over Daisy.

"Yeah, but that's like kinda hard…" said Daisy as the ball bounced behind her. She turned to the ball, and a lined garden of flowers appeared between her and the ball. She swiftly dived forward to quickly return it with a slice.

"Tennis isn't just about hitting the ball all the time, you have to study your opponents and know where that person will… well, screw up. Find their weakness. Here, let me demonstrate," said Peach. She reached the ball across the court, which was conveniently above her head. She quickly jumped up and threw her arm forward in a smash. The tennis ball shot across the net, and accurately landed on the corner of the court opposite from Daisy.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed. She thought for a moment, calculating the scores of both princesses, then sighed. "It looks like you won this time…"

"Well I noticed that every time you use your long-range daisy run, you have to take time to kneel back up. And you never look back, so you can't hit a ball that's targeted for your back."

"Wow… I don't see why you weren't like… first last year!"

"Well I was matched up with Mario in the semi-finals… We were giving it all, and it was really close. Man, he's the best player I've seen… But he got beat by Yoshi in the finals!"

"Oh my gosh! Yoshi is like… soooooooooo cuuuuuuute!" squeaked Daisy. "I really wish I took place of Mario, then I can ride on him and cuddle him all day long!"

"Hm, it's been three months since Mario's been gone," Peach said, ignoring Daisy. "And the clouds are acting really strange… Looks like a storm is coming, but there isn't any rain. Weird…"

Suddenly, lightning struck the net, burning it into a crisp. Both princesses jumped ten feet out of surprise, though only Daisy screamed since she wasn't exactly used to danger. Daisy quickly ran back through the backdoor of Peach's castle, leaving the door open for Peach.

"Peach! Peach! Get over here! OH MY GOD!"

The green witch cloaked heavily in black flew down on a broomstick out of nowhere, with her faithful sidekick with a flying helmet screaming, "I HAVE FURY!"

The witch cackled as Peach gasped in shock. "Cackletta? I thought you were dead!"

Cackletta cackled again. "Dead I was, until my faithful comrades rescued me in time! Now it is time to take you and make you a lure for Mario, so I can get my revenge on him for ruining my plot to rule Bean Bean Kingdom!"

Peach regained her courage, ignoring Daisy's screams. "Really? I think you'll find me much more difficult to kidnap than back then…" She drew her frying pan and skidded back. As one can see, she was much more agile than in the SSBM game because she was not in a flimsy dress.

"Let's test your abilities then," cackled Cackletta. She held her arm up and lightning struck where Peach once stood. Peach quickly sped around Cackletta and slammed her frying pan on her broomstick. It seemed to have no effect.

"I've got you now!" screamed Cackletta as she whirled around to grab Peach by the waist. The witch lifted the princess up into the air, smirking. Peach squirmed to escape from her grasp, but to no avail. She was captured for the millionth time… Second time by the witch.

But not yet.

"GENO BLAST!"

"STAR RAIN!"

Two masculine voices (yet one adolescent) cried. Colorful beams of light fell from the skies, repeatedly striking Cackletta. Her hold on Peach was still tight.

A humongous yellow star fell on top of Cackletta, showering her with the power of the stars. It bounced up off of her and smashed itself on her again. It continued this process fifteen more times until it disappeared. A wooden man with a blue cloak and hat, and a young boy who looked like a puffy cloud appeared beside Cackletta. By this time, Cackletta loosened her hold on Peach from pain enough to allow Peach to smash her frying pan on Cackletta's head. Cackletta opened her hands as Peach swiftly jumped away.

"Geno! Mallow! Where did you come from?"

"No time to explain," said Geno. "We must eliminate the enemy for the sake of the stars. She has taken the star rod, so she has much more power than before."

"Yeah, this brings back old memories…" said Mallow. He was a young boy that aided Mario in his journey to defeat the almighty Smithy, and near the end of his adventure learned that he was the prince of Nimbus Land, the grand city of the clouds.

Peach smiled. "It's been a while since we fought together!" she exclaimed.

"The enemy is recovering. Let's go," said Geno as he looked at the Cackletta climbing back on her broom.

"You fools! You cannot possibly defeat me without Mario, who I have sent Fawful to call!"

"Why do you want Mario to come?" asked Geno. "I'm sure that your death is certain if he comes now."

"It'll be much more fun and interesting with him in the battle, and I'd certainly want him to be killed by my own hands. But first, I must deal with you," said Cackletta. She split into three different figures of herself, two fake and one real. "If you can guess which one is the real me," all three said, "then you are in luck! But I doubt it'll ever happen!"

An enormous mechakoopa (toy koopa) suddenly fell from the skies and smashed on one of the Cackletta clones. It swiftly jumped off and smashed the other clone. Cackletta was unable to notice what was happening until the mechakoopa finally reached her, squishing her into the ground.

"BOWSER CRUSH!"

Bowser appeared, rolling in his shell next to Mallow. He came out with a growl at Cackletta. "I will NEVER fucking forget what you did to me back then! I'm going to fucking KILL you for taking over my castle and my body!" He breathed fire at Cackletta, who was climbing back on her broom. Her broomstick lit on fire and burnt into ashes, disabling her ability to fly. Cackletta quickly stood back up, holding her arms out wide.

"You are all making me very angry! And none of you want to see me angry!" screamed Cackletta as she let out a lightning bolt that quickly split into four, each for each person. All of the others rolled out of the way to dodge it, and Geno quickly charged another powerful spell.

"GENO BEAM!" He cried as his gun shot a white beam of light into Cackletta. However, the witch was nowhere to be found. She teleported directly behind Mallow, about to grab him to shock him. Unfortunately for her, he read her and whirled around, slamming a pair of powerful cymbals on her hand.

"YEOW!" she screamed in pain, holding her throbbing hand. She glided back, only to feel the sharp claws of Bowser and the hard frying pan of Peach on her back. She teleported on top of Peach's castle, away from her pursuers, rubbing her throbbing back through her cut cloak.

"I praise you for your teamwork on me, but I'm just getting warmed up!" she yelled, winding her arms up for a deadly spell. All of the other heroes backed off, unsure about what she was about to use.

"What is she about to do?" cried Peach.

"Pfft, don't ask me," replied Mallow. "I never even met her, but I know she's an enemy of Mario."

An ENORMOUS red shell with small white wings flew out of nowhere and struck Cackletta's face, who was completely caught off guard. Bones cracking loudly were heard by the others. Geno smiled as he turned to see the shell return to the man with a familiar red cap and blue overalls named...

"Mario!" Peach, Mallow, and Geno cried.

"Great, it's the mother-fucking wavedasher…" groaned Bowser. "You better not fucking ruin my reputation!"

Mario smiled as he held the red shell (the Lazy Shell) in his hand. "The one second that I leave Mushroom Kingdom, trouble ensues. My one-second vacation was fine until a toad ran to me to help the castle. Still, I'm surprised Cackletta's back."

"Actually you were out for a couple months…" Peach corrected him.

"Exaggeration, sheesh…" Mario rolled his eyes.

"Mario!" screamed Cackletta as she cackled again. "It's been a long time! I will never forget the day that you killed me after defeating my Bowletta form!"

"Same, but it was one of the most enjoyable adventures! Probably the first time I actually partnered up with my brother… I don't even think he's back yet."

"All I want is revenge on you, Mario! And revenge I shall have! Fawful!"

The small green creature flew above Cackletta. "Yes, my mistress?" he said with a nasty smile.

"Take care of these idiots! Bring them to my base once you defeat them, and we shall lock them up!" ordered Cackletta. "I shall go back and make the plans for the executions!" She turned to the heroes of Super Mario RPG. "Fawful should be much more than enough to take care of you all! I hope to see you soon at your executions, as I was only warming up!" she cackled as she teleported to who knows where.

"Fucking coward…" Bowser murmured, then he turned to face Fawful.

"How hard can Fawful be?" asked Mallow. "Mario beat him really easily and it's five versus one! We're definitely not going to lose!"

"You fink-rats have no chance of me! Take this!" The vacuum cleaner on his head shot green energy balls that rained over the heroes. All of them dodged them, but the collisions caused them to create explosions larger than five meters!

"Crap!" all five yelled as they were painfully caught in the green neon explosions.

"I HAVE FURY!" Fawful cried. "You fink rats have absolutely no chance!"

* * *

"My, my, Ridley, you've been beat badly…" said Nergal as he approached the roasted body of Ridley. "And there are no more space pirates left to revive you again… I knew you were unable to tap into the full power of the Endowment of Exigency, so I shall take your remaining powers and become more powerful… Eventually more powerful than the master!" He placed his hands on Ridley's chest, expecting to feel the remaining power left in the carcass. 

Strange enough, it felt like a simple carcass of a dragon. Or more simply, a carcass without any power.

"What the… Where is the power I lust for?" asked Nergal. "Ridley! I command you to give me the power!" He shook Ridley's head, face with rage. "GIVE ME YOUR POWER!"

Eventually, the power-thirsty druid gave up. "Somebody must have stolen it before I came here…" he grumbled. "Ridley, I am glad that you followed the plan, but even if you did you must have left some power in yourself… I can only come to the conclusion that someone else came and took my power…"

"AND I SHALL KILL THAT PERSON!"

* * *

The smashers finally came to the front of the castle within the midst of the storm. Luigi ran up to the door and smashed his hand on it. "Peach! Are you in there? Princess Peach!" he cried, waiting for an answer. 

The door suddenly opened, and a princess walked out. However, it was not Peach.

"Oh my god, Luigi!" Daisy cried, jumping on Luigi in a hug, with tears welled up in her eyes.

"What the… Daisy! What happened here?" Luigi exclaimed, taken aback by her sudden hug and break down.

"Yeah, dude, what the hell happened?" Captain Falcon blurted out rudely.

"Peach… She's gone! Cackletta came and kidnapped her!" Daisy screamed.

"Cackletta?" exclaimed Captain Falcon.

"Who the hell is Cackletta?" Samus asked.

"Some witch that cackles?" Jigglypuff offered a guess.

"Jigglypuff, your guess is right on target," Luigi replied. "She's a witch that Mario and I had to team up against to defeat, because she tried to rule over Bean Bean Kingdom."

"Bean Bean Kingdom?" scoffed Falcon. "What a lame damn name!" Everyone else ignored his random comments.

"But Luigi!" said Daisy. "Mario is also kidnapped! So are Bowser, Geno, and Mallow!"

"What?" the smashers exclaimed in surprise.

"And only by Cackletta's underling! He overpowered the five of them easily… I had to hide so I could tell someone who could help… Sorry…"

"Don't be," said Luigi. "There wouldn't be anything you could do anyways. Where did they go?"

"Her castle looks like it's all the way up there…" Daisy pointed to a black floating castle miles away in the skies, so far that it was so difficult to see such a huge castle.

"Whoa… That's far away. Even I can't run up there…" said Falcon. Samus rolled her eyes.

"You aren't the best runner in the world... Fox and Marth can rival your running speed," said Samus. "Heck, Luigi's faster than you if he wavedashes continuously."

"I have a way that we can get up there. We just have to go to Shooting Star Summit and hope that Star Haven will let us go up there," said Luigi.

"If we can't?" Samus asked.

"Then we can use your ship, but it's vulnerable to fire, unlike what the star spirits can offer."

"Where is it?" Jigglypuff asked.

"This way. Just follow me," Luigi said. He turned back to Daisy. "Daisy, you can do all you can to fix all of the mess Cackletta started around this castle. Clean it all up, and fix up the castle. You can do that being a princess right?"

Daisy gave a nod. "Great," said Luigi. "Make sure the toads get off of their lazy butts, and don't use too many funds, you know how poor our kingdom is. Come on, everyone, follow me."

Luigi gestured for the other smashers to follow him to a pale mountain that had stars twinkling above it. None of them had any idea how much more difficult their battle with Cackletta will be than their battle in Tallon IV… Simply the fact that her underling, Fawful, was able to defeat five heroes (or a villain too, including Bowser) should show that he himself will be difficult.

But as the smashers progress, they will grow stronger, and will eventually be able to defeat their enemies.


	7. Chapter 7: Koopas and Shy Guys, Oh My!

Hack: Chapter Seven is up! And the story will get more involved, and there will be more super fun action that I will right! And Fox won't be appearing much until chapter 8 or 9… The story's more focused on the story in Mushroom Kingdom right now.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 7: Koopas and Shy Guys, Oh My!**

Luigi, Samus, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon stood on the top of the Shooting Star Summit, surrounded by seven star symbols imprinted on the ground. Around them is a small light circle. Luigi looked up at the skies with his eyes closed, putting his hands together. After five minutes...

"Ok, so what the hell are we supposed to do now?" Falcon asked as he playfully punched Luigi in the back.

Luigi opened his eyes, painfully rubbing his back. "What the hell? I told you not to interrupt me, Captain Falcon! I have to pray to the stars to open up the Star Way, geez… Be patient!"

The smashers waited further, as Luigi continued to pray to the stars. Suddenly, the seven symbols around them glowed. A beam of light shot out from the circle, and the four smashers were pushed upwards by an unseen force.

"What the…"

"Crap is happening?" Falcon finished for Samus.

"Yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking," replied Jigglypuff.

The smashers continued to float as an unknown city covered with stars appeared before them. They stood at the bright entrance of it as Luigi said, "Star Haven… Welcome to Star Haven, everyone."

* * *

Mario, Geno, Peach, Mallow, and Bowser sat in separate jail cells, with gloomy expressions on their faces. Clearly, they were all trapped in Cackletta's new flying castle. Bowser continuously shook on the bars, clawing them, believing that he can get out with his strength. 

"Fuck! Fuck! I can't believe that fucking punk beat the shit out of all of us!" he yelled.

"He was never this powerful… Luigi and I totally crushed him years ago, I have no clue how he got so powerful…" said Mario.

"The star rod. Cackletta took it at Star Haven," Geno replied. "I witnessed it at the Star Haven..."

"WHAT?" everyone else yelled, including Bowser.

"We have to get it back!" cried Mallow.

Peach looked at him. "But how?" she asked. "We're all stuck inside here, with no way to get out. Cackletta used a muting spell on all of us when we were unconscious, so we can't cast any spells to get out. Any ideas?"

Bowser grumbled, thinking about a different topic. "Man, that fucking star rod… This is no joke."

"What?"

"If that bitch has that star rod, she's definitely not fucking playing around. That thing is _really_ damn powerful…"

"Oh yeah," said Mario. "You had it before, and you were practically invincible!"

"Yeah, well… I doubt that witch knows how to fully tap into its power. If she did, she would've fucking killed us in a few seconds."

Everyone sat down again, pondering on what might happen to them.

"Then it is our duty to get back the star rod and bring it back to Star Haven," declared Geno.

"Sure… Think about that after we find a way to get out of here."

* * *

"Oh my god…" Jigglypuff gasped. 

The four smashers looked at the remains of the Star Sanctuary, the place with the seven star spirits. The star spirits were nowhere to be seen, and all of the sky-blue pedestals were in ruins. All that remained standing was the center pedestal. Luigi walked up to the center, and started to pray again.

"This praying crap again?" Captain Falcon blurted out again.

"**Shut the hell up**!" everyone else yelled at him.

"I need to summon the star ship that will take us to Cackletta's castle. I need quiet, just be patient for a couple minutes!" said Luigi, obviously irritated.

The other three watched in silence, saying absolutely nothing. An upside-down blue hollow koopa shell with wings appeared, large enough to fit in all of the smashers.

"Oh yeah! Go Luigi!" said Falcon, shooting his fists into the air with confidence.

"Wait… There's already someone in it…" Samus pointed out. "It doesn't look like they're friends either."

Four koopas jumped out of the ship, each with a different colored shell (black, yellow, green, and red). All of them had ninja blindfolds, with eyeholes on them.

"Cackletta hired us to take care of some intruders that might try to get in her way, dude…" the green one said.

"Because we're the coolest of the cool!"

"Why is that? Because we're called…"

All four pointed at the smashers, yelling with confidence, "THE AWESOME NINJA KOOPA BROTHERS!"

The four smashers stared at the four koopas in silence.

"What… the… fuck…" was what Captain Falcon could say.

The red koopa pointed at Luigi. "You look an awful lot like Mario. That guy totally whooped us a long time ago, but we're stronger now! He ain't any stronger now, yo!"

"And we're definitely a lot cooler too!" said the black koopa.

"No, black, you're supposed to say, 'We 2 cool fo' u!' " the yellow koopa angrily replied. "U r such a noobster!"

"Sorry…"

There was silence. "No... Just... No," said Luigi. "Sorry, but you guys just killed it. I am never instant messaging anyone ever again, nor am I playing online games..."

The other smashers snickered.

"But anyways, our job is to get rid of you so Cackletta can finish her plans. We're being paid a lot for this job, you know…" explained Yellow.

Samus looked at Red. "So you think we're just going to sit back and let you stop us? Hell no." She shot a quick missile at Red's face. Red went inside his shell and spun out of the way, avoiding the missile.

Falcon acted next. He ran towards Green and threw his arm upwards at Green's chin, connecting. Green kicked off the wall after getting hit, and positioned himself above Falcon. He went inside his shell and fell at frightening speeds towards Falcon, who didn't notice Green.

Luckily, Luigi shot a quick fireball at Green, knocking him off course.

"This ain't our syle, yo…" said Yellow. "We gotta use our team attack, dog!" ("No, stop trying to act ghetto, you killed it..." Luigi murmured.) He quickly bent down on the ground. Black jumped on top of him, and bent down as well. Green followed suite, and Red finally stood on top of the tower of the Koopa Brothers. He pointed at the smashers, glaring at them.

"Let's go!" he cried. All four crawled into their shells and spun, still in tower formation. Their first target? Luigi, the one that hates their dialog.

"Shit! Get out of the way, damn it!" yelled Falcon as he kicked Luigi away from danger. The tower spun between the two, narrowly missing Luigi.

Samus quickly teleported to the wall and charged her plasma beam. She quickly released her shot at the Koopa Brothers, finally hitting them.

However, the spinning Koopas deflected the Plasma shot in a different direction and melted a portion of the wall! Yes, they are spinning that fast.

The tower of Koopas jumped up while still spinning and collided with Samus, sending her flying threw the wall and out of the Sanctuary. Strangely, they were still spinning! Jigglypuff acted quickly. She floated up to the spinning Koopa Brothers and released a powerful Mega Punch. The tower finally dispersed back into the four individal koopas. Funny enough, each koopa was lying on their backs, unable to get back up.

"Fuck, dude! This ain't cool, yo!"

"Now!" cried Luigi. He jumped into the air and used a quick butt stomp on Black's stomach, putting him out of commission. Captain Falcon jumped above Yellow and threw his legs down into his face, knocking him unconscious. Jigglypuff jumped on top of Green and sat on his stomach.

REST!

Green was immediately set on fire. Jigglypuff's rest attack blasted him through the wall and out of Star Haven, to who knows where.

"Holy shit! Overkill!" exclaimed Falcon.

Red finally got back on his legs, and poised a fighting stance. "This ain't cool, yo… You took out my teammates and I'm all alone now, yo. This time, I ain't playin'!" he yelled.

Like a stealthy ninja, he jumped to the wall, clinging on it. He took out ninja stars from the inside of his red shell and threw them at Jigglypuff, who crouched to avoid them. He jumped off the wall, dodged a few fireballs from Luigi, and reached Captain Falcon, who released a Raptor Booster at Red. Red blocked with his elbow, and quickly thrusted his knees into Falcon's groin. Very hard.

"SHIT!" Falcon screamed, sounding like a squirrel who inhaled helium. He held his crotch in constant pain, reeling back with the wind blown out of him.

This was all the time Red needed to finish off Falcon. He used an uppercut on Falcon to send him up in the air and jumped up to prepare a finishing move.

Jigglypuff appeared behind him and landed a long sex kick on top of Red's head, throwing him off balance. Luigi quickly spiked him down with a slow drill kick. Captain Falcon fell to the ground, still holding his crotch in pain.

"Oh my god, my balls… My manhood… ohhhhhhh shit it hurts…" he froaned.

Back to the battle. Jigglypuff executed a fast pound attack on Red, and Luigi karate chopped him afterwards. Red crashed into the wall, clearly in pain.

"Not bad, yo, but I already got two of you. Think you guys can handle me, dude?"

He launched an enormous fireball at Jigglypuff. Caught by surprise, Jigglypuff was finally burnt and fell down on her face, unconscious. Luigi wavedashed forward to close the distance between himself and Red instantly. Red used a roundhouse kick, but Luigi crouched to avoid the attack. He let out a crouching kick at the knees to trip Red and Luigi quickly punched him upwards into the air. Red crawled back into his shell and prepared a shelled-ground pound attack on Luigi, who was still recovering from his attack.

BOOM!

There was a loud bang and a loud cry of pain.

"OW! SHIT! MY EYES! DAMN IT!" Luigi certainly did not say.

Red was on the ground, holding his eyes. Blue Phazon flowed out from his eyes, burning off every inch of skin that it touched. He slowly wiped away the Phazon and stood up, trembling in pain.

Samus stood at the side, her arm cannon charged. She cried, "Sonic Boom!" The familiar charged blast struck Red cleanly with sound. All hints of sound were blocked off at that moment, and Red was blasted away out of Star Haven, never to be seen again.

"Teaches those bastards to blow me away…" Samus grumbled.

Luigi smiled. "Thanks, I almost lost my life there…" he said as he carried the unconscious Jigglypuff on his back.

"My balls… I think one of them popped…" Falcon cried from the pain he received in the crotch 15 minutes ago.

"Man, does it really hurt that much?" asked Samus. "I can't believe how weak guys can get because of their… yeah. I should write a mental note to shoot you there next time you piss me off."

"Samus, don't try it. It's way too much pain, even for Falcon." Luigi chuckled. "...Actually you can if he drives you overboard."

Samus shrugged. "Oh well. So this shell ship thingy will take us to Cackletta's fortress?"

"It should. Let's go, Falcon," Luigi beckoned to Falcon. He dragged Falcon by his arm as he and Samus climbed into the star ship (or shell).

"I really hope the star spirits are still alive…" he said.

"Star spirits?" said Samus.

"Yeah. They're like God in the Mushroom Kingdom, except not immortals." The flying koopa shell rose high above Star Haven, and sped off towards Cackletta's castle. He looked at the entrance that they approached. _Don't worry, Mario… I'll be there soon to rescue you and everyone else. Just make sure you stay alive until I get there._

_

* * *

_

Cackletta looked out of the window from her castle, glaring at the approaching smashers. "Stupid Koopa Brothers… And I actually thought they had a chance against those smashers! Luigi and his friends prove themselves to be worthy of me… But I shall destroy them the moment they enter my castle!" She waved her wand and a white shy guy appeared before her.

"Yes, sir?" he asked.

"I told you to not call me sir again!" she shrieked.

"Yes, sir! I mean, yes ma'am!"

"Much better. I want you to place your troops in the main lobby, the biggest room. I want you to mobilize all of your troops and prepare for battle."

"Who are we fighting?"

"Four people. They are not pushovers so do not take them easily. Give it all you have. If you fail, General Guy, I shall exterminate you after killing those smashers."

"Bowser was a much better leader to follow orders… I don't see why we have to listen to you, ma'am."

"Mention that oversized turtle again and I will personally make sure that you wish you were never alive! Now go!"

"Yes, ma'am!" General Guy yelled as he ran out of Cackletta's throne room to mobilize his troops and prepare for battle. Cackletta smiled.

"Fawful, I want you to make sure that if the smashers defeat our shy guys, you give them a warm welcome to my castle."

"Yes, my nastiness! I shall give those fink-rats a warm welcome! I HAVE FURY!"

"Yeah, yeah, go now."

Fawful flew off out of the throne room as well, leaving the witch alone. "This will be an interesting battle… I have to make sure that I exterminate Mario after this," Cackletta murmured to herself.

* * *

The smashers immediately entered the entrance of Cackletta's castle. The room was practically empty, save for the large black chandelier hanging on the ceiling and the black fireplaces stuck in walls. 

"Where that bitchy witch?" Falcon yelled in the hall.

"Shut the hell up!" Samus nudged him.

Jigglypuff tapped them both. "Uh… guys? I think they want to kill us…"

She pointed at the enormous army of shy guys pouring out from the door across the hall. Shy Guys walking on stilts, set on fire, dancing with strange bells and clothing on, floating on balloons with slingshots, every variety was in the army. A white shy guy stood at the very center as if he was very important, obviously the commander of them.

"Holy shit! There has to be at least a thousand of them!" Falcon whispered.

"Hey, I've dealt with more space pirates than these guys," Samus replied.

"Ten-hut!" General Guy commanded. All of the shy guys turned in the same direction in sync. "Cackletta has commanded us to eliminate you smashers, sir! I apologize for any inconvenience, as I highly prefer working under Bowser's command!"

The smashers looked at each other in confusion. Luigi spoke up. "I understand that Cackletta's forcing you to do what she wants, and I really don't want to fight, but we have no choice but to break through. I give my apologies as well."

"Ok, sir! Now… CHARGE!" General Guy commanded.

The four smashers got into a fighting stance, prepared for another tiring battle in the castle. "How much more fighting do we have to do?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Probably a lot more," the other three replied. Jigglypuff frowned.

The Pyro Guys, Shy Guys set on fire, were the fastest. A couple hundred quickly flew towards the smashers in an attempt to tackle them with fire.

"Leave them to me," said Samus. "You guys go take out the others."

Luigi, Falcon, and Jigglypuff nodded in agreement as they jumped over the Pyro Guys. Samus charged her beam shot, white particles gathering at the end of her cannon. She teleported farther back and cried, "Ice Spreader!" She shot a blast of ice into the middle of the Pyro Guys, and an enormous, lengthy sheet of ice lengthened out from the target, freezing every Pyro Guy.

Luigi jumped on top of one Shy Guy on stilts and kicked it off. He held a stilt in each hand and used his Luigi Tornado attack. This time, however, he held out his stilts, so his new stilts beat the crap out of all of the shy guys near him. All of them were sent flying into the wall, unconscious.

"We must not give up against them! Shy Stacks, Stack formation!" yelled General Guy.

Like the Koopa Brothers did, several shy guys formed towers, each made of four shy guys. Each grabbed a slingshot and shot a rock at Captain Falcon. Because there were so many towers, however, over 20 rocks flew their way at Falcon!

"Holy shit!" he yelled. Samus quickly shot several bits of Phazon, accurately destroying each rock in mid-air.

But there was no time for Falcon to give thanks to Samus. Other shy guys swarmed around Jigglypuff and Luigi, attempting to surround them and beat them. The Shy Stacks aimed their slingshots at Falcon again, ready to send a barrage of rocks.

"We're surrounded!" cried Jigglypuff.

"Shit!" Falcon yelled as he wavedashed several times to the side to avoid the oncoming rocks, but he was not fast enough. He was pelted by some of the rocks.

"There's too many of them!" Luigi angrily yelled. "We can't get past them!"

"Geno Whirl!" a voice cried out. A yellow energy disk flew through the army of shy guys, creating a wide path of dead shy guys in the middle of the army. Geno, Peach, Mallow, and Bowser appeared from another door on the side of the room, with Geno having his arm out.

"Geno!" Luigi cried. "It's great to see you, man!"

"Same here, but now is not the time to talk."

The Shy Guys were really getting their asses murdered now. Bowser was now breathing fire on hundreds of Shy Guys, Mallow was summoning snow and lightning to strike other Shy Guys, and Peach smacked away numerous shy guys with her frying pan.

"You guys go to Cackletta. You are all much more capable than us," said Geno.

"Where's Mario?"

"He went to battle Cackletta on his own. You should go help him, Luigi."

"All right. Everyone, let's go!"

"But what about the others?" Jigglypuff asked, looking at Peach, Bowser, Geno, and Mallow with worry.

"They're strong, they'll all be fine. You saw Peach and Bowser fight before, and Geno and Mallow are pretty strong themselves," assured Luigi. "Let's go."

The smashers ran through the path Geno created with his Geno Whirl attack towards the door that lead to the throne room, slapping away a shy guy or two that got in the way.

"Bring it on, mother-fuckers!" Bowser screamed. He snapped his claws and spires of rock struck out of the ground, impaling numerous Shy Guys.

"Snowy!" Mallow cried. A snowman appeared in the middle of the Shy Guys and immediately exploded, showering bits of snow everywhere and freezing Shy Guys.

General Guy shook his head. "This is not good… We'll have to bring out my trump card to take them out…" He took out a walkie-talkie, turned it on, and said, "Bring out my lightning vehicle!"

* * *

The smashers have been running through the main hall, passing by many black doors that lead to who knows where. 

"How far… Is it, Luigi?" Jigglypuff panted, struggling to keep up her pace.

"Almost there… Can't you see it?"

"Hey! I see… A weird red-coated dude? What the fuck?" said Falcon.

Fawful hovered directly in front of the grand doorway that undoubtedly leads to Cackletta's room. "It's you fink-rats! I've dealt with your friends before, and deal with you I shall!" he cried with confidence.

"What an annoying brat… I just want to slap him away…" Samus grumbled under her breath.

"Behind this door is that brat Mario with Cackletta! That fink-rat will be no match for our wonder witch! If you want to help him, then defeat me you must! But that shall be impossible!"

"Luigi, you go help Mario with Cackletta," said Samus.

"Why me?"

"You've fought her before, so you know her. Mario will definitely need your help."

Luigi paused. Then he immediately nodded. "All right. I'll leave Fawful to you guys."

He ran past Fawful and grabbed the doorknob behind Fawful when Fawful said, "Who gave you fink-rats permission to get past me?" He turned to Luigi to launch a quick attack. Suddenly, a phazon beam shot flew past Fawful's face, forcing him to move away from Luigi.

"I did!" Samus yelled assertively. Luigi nodded and opened the door. He quickly ran through and closed it behind him.

"You fink-rats have no idea who you're dealing with! And defeat you I shall!"

"You're so damn weird, you know that?" said Falcon.

"Look who's talking..." muttered Samus.

"I don't think that you're joking either..." Jigglypuff replied to Samus.

Fawful ignored the smashers. "I HAVE FURY!" He cried, readying his weapons. Samus, Falcon, and Jigglypuff positioned themselves together, preparing for the fight against the really strange… flying fink-rat guy.

* * *

Luigi found himself in a bright, yet black room. Another chandelier was hung above, and a few windows were scattered on the walls. The most noticeable feature was the figure of Mario lying on the ground and the figure of Cackletta, cackling. 

"So you finally come! Too bad, for I have already dealt with that pathetic brother of yours!" she yelled.

Luigi knelt down besides Mario, feeling him breath. _He's still alive… That's great. I'll get her for you_.

"Cackletta, you have caused too much trouble in Mushroom Kingdom. It is my duty to defeat you as the brother of Mario."

"You think you have a chance against me?" Cackletta cackled. "Fat chance!"

She wrapped up her arms, conjuring a powerful lightning spell. "Bolting!" she yelled. Several bolts of lightning surrounded Luigi, preventing him from dodging. An enormous bolt fell from the ceiling and zapped Luigi. Luigi stood there, face pitch black. Black smoke came out from his mouth as he coughed.

"My powers have increased twice as much than before! You don't have a chance!" Cackletta shrieked, firing another bolting spell.

Luigi, quickly recovering from the previous attack, prepared for the next bolting attack. "Really? If your powers have increased twofold over these years, then my powers have increased tenfold!"

He held out his arms and the surrounding bolts dispersed from him. They transformed into thunder arrows and shot towards Cackletta, zapping her with her own attacks.

Luigi held his open palm out with confidence. "If lightning is all you can use, then I've got this in the bag. You can shoot all the lightning you want, but I control it."

Cackletta staggered, climbing back on her broom. "This fight is just getting started! And it's getting quite interesting… Bring it, you stupid plumber!"


	8. Chapter 8: The General and the Fink Rat

Hack: Not very much to say, except there's more of the stuff that Fox does in this chapter, and the next few chapters as well. Wonder when they'll reunite… Anyways, enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 8: The General and the Fink Rat  
**

"_Able Juice? Where did you get that from?" Mallow asked Geno._

_After drinking out of a red bottle, he said, "I saw that this body still have some items on it. I found some able juice, which should let me be able to use my magic."_

"_And get out of here by using Geno Whirl?" Peach asked._

"_Of course he will," Mario replied with a smirk on his face._

"_GENO WHIRL!" Geno cried, holding out his hand as if he was about to shoot a flying disc._

_The entire party waited for the jail bars to break. However, Geno did not cast any magic at all. "It seems I'm still muted… Able juice will not work, so I cannot use Geno Whirl to cut us out of here."_

"_Red Essence…" Bowser mumbled._

"_Yeah, I have some, but it's my last one."_

"_Just give the fucking red essence to me, Geno!" Bowser roared. "I can get out of this fucking shit hole with it, just throw it here."_

"_As you wish." Geno pulled off his hat and picked out a bag with red powder in it. Placing his hat back on his head, he accurately tossed the bag through the jail bars towards the jail with Bowser. Bowser immediately sprinkled it on himself, receiving a yellow glow._

"_RAAAAWWWRRRRRR!" He roared as he clawed one of the bars in front of him. The bar immediately broke off, freeing Bowser._

"_Great," Mallow sighed happily. "Now get us out of here."_

_

* * *

_

Peach, Geno, Mallow, and Bowser looked at the enormous pile of unconscious shy guys they had just beat up.

"Well that was really boring…" Peach said.

"We have to go aid the Mario brothers in defeating Cackletta!"

"Which way though?"

"Don't ask me, I have no idea where those fuckers went."

"Tut, sir, you shall not pass, as I, General Guy, will defeat you all here!"

A stray shy guy carrying two sticks came out from the center door, waving them around. An enormous blue machine rolled into view, stopping directly in front of the shy guy. A cockpit and a strange light bulb were on top of the machine. General Guy popped out of the cockpit, pulling out a bomb.

"A stupid wheelbarrow? This is your trump card?" Mallow laughed.

"I can't imagine that fucking thing beating the crap out of us!"

"I'm not a guy, don't call me sir..."

"I command you all to shut up!" General Guy yelled angrily as he threw the bomb at Peach. Peach quickly caught the bomb in her frying pan and threw it back at the machine, slightly singeing it.

Mallow stood up, holding his hands up. "Thunderbolt!" He cried. Bolts of thunder rained from the ceiling, repeatedly zapping the machine. The electricity pierced through the machine's touch defenses, also shocking General Guy. Geno quickly shot out a speeding disc, Geno Whirl, that cut the machine in half. The machine immediately exploded, sending General Guy flying.

But he wasn't wearing a white suit.

"ARGH!" Mallow cried, feeling the sharp pain of an explosion behind him. He was sent flying upwards towards the ceiling and fell back down. The other three looked back to see an identical machine with armed cannons sticking out in the front.

"This is our true trump card, sir!" the real General Guy claimed from the cockpit. "It is much more powerful than that pathetic wheelbarrow, as I have demonstrated!"

"Demonstrated my ass!" Bowser roared. "I can't fucking believe that you left me to work for that fucking witch! What about that obligation that you had to sign? You were to obey me and only me, you were to be completely loyal to me. What did you fucking do? You just left me in the dust, not helping me while letting that bitch annihilate me."

"Bowser, sir, you are no longer our king. You have humiliated yourself far too much in your battles against Mario. You have battled him countless times, yet you have failed to completely defeat him even once! I have no loyalty for such a pathetic king."

"Then so be it, damn fucker." Bowser crawled into his spiked shell and spun towards General Guy's vehicle. General Guy continuously fired bullet bill upon bullet bill at Bowser, but he seemed to not be affected by them. When he was in range, Bowser stood up and hacked at the machine several times with his sharp claws. His arms were hacking away extremely fast, faster than ever. He quickly followed his onslaught with a long breath of fire.

After his onslaught, there seemed to be no damage on the machine!

A light bulb on top of the machine shot an enormous bolt of electricity across the room, aiming for Geno. Geno quickly dashed to the side to avoid the shocking attack. General Guy frowned in disappointment.

"Fire the Banzai Bill, sir!" General Guy commanded. The cannons on the front were replaced by one enormous cannon, ready to fire a humongous bullet bill, or a banzai bill.

"HOLY SHIT!" Bowser yelled.

"Oh my god…" said Geno.

The banzai bill was shot out of the cannon. Its size easily dwarfed the size of ten bullet bills combined! While the others were staring at the Banzai Bill in disbelief, Peach quickly ran up to the Banzai Bill, pulled out her tennis racket, and spun her body once. She slammed her tennis racket on the Banzai Bill (that easily dwarved her entire body), returning it to the machine. Strangely, pink hearts surrounded the Banzai Bill.

General Guy took out his own tennis racket and suddenly spun once, now dressed up in a tutu like a Shy Guy dressed like an Indian. He slammed his personal tennis racket on the Banzai Bill, blasting it back with lightning. However, it was targeted at Geno!

Before the Banzai Bill could reach Geno, Peach kissed her hand. Hearts surrounded the Banzai Bill and carried it towards her. She quickly slammed it back at the machine with her racket. Unable to return the shot, General Guy withdrew back into his machine to defend. The Banzai Bill cleanly struck the machine, creating an ENORMOUS explosion. After the smoke from the explosion cleared out, General Guy popped out of his cockpit again.

"You, sir, cannot break through my defenses, even with our own Banzai Bill!" he declared. True to his words, there existed no dents on the machine. No damage has been dealt at all!

"Damn it…" all three cursed under their breaths.

The room immediately went dark. Two spotlights continuously rotated on the floor around the machine, approaching the machine. When they both touched the machine, Mallow cried, "Psychopath!"

The room immediately went back to normal, seeming like nothing happened. "The cannon!" Mallow yelled at his teammates. "Break through the cannon and destroy the interior of this guy's machine!"

Geno smiled. "Gladly," he simply said with a smile on his face. Noticing that he has no more Red Essence to provide, he raised his hands up, closing his eyes. "Geno Boost!" he yelled. A white puff of smoke temporarily engulfed Bowser, and a red glow surrounded him. Bowser's muscles now bulged to twice their original size, and he seemed to have temporarily grown too.

"You may have the honors, Bowser."

"Thanks. I'll tear this fucking cannon apart."

Bowser approached the cannon with lightning speed and started another onslaught of hacking on the Banzai Cannon with his claws. White sparks flew off with every slash Bowser used on the cannon.

"You, sir, cannot break through this cannon! It is too powerful for you all to…"

The banzai bill cannon blew into several pieces, revealing the interior of it. The party of four smiled, and prepared another onslaught of magic, all aimed at the new hole made by Bowser.

"Geno Flash!"

"Shocker!"

"Psych Bomb!"

Geno temporarily transformed into a blue magic cannon with gold frames and shot a red blast of fire into the machine. An enormous explosion, almost as large as the Banzai Bill's explosion, damaged several interior parts in the machine.

A thick, massive bolt of lighting blasted itself through the hole and further damaged interior parts of the machine, zapping it with fierce electricity.

Millions of tiny bombs were tossed into the machine, creating tiny explosion upon tiny explosion. However, a million tiny explosions still caused much damage, more than one big explosion.

The machine was wearing down, losing its defenses. General Guy started to sweat with fear when he saw that his machine was being murdered, its defenses pierced. He didn't notice that his machine was standing in an enormous shadow.

"Bowser Crush!"

The familiar Mecha-Koopa fell on the weakened machine, finally destroying its exterior. When it jumped off, all that was seen was an unconscious shy guy in white clothing and a pile of black smoking scrap.

"That takes care of him," said Mallow.

"That mother fucker is finally dead…"

"Where's Peach?"

"Oh, Peach? She went off to help the others… We should follow her."

"All right, let's follow her!"

* * *

"That's King K. Rool's Fortress? Looks more like a retarded floating tower to me." 

Fox, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong sat in a dark cavern, looking through the opening to see a black tower floating on the sea. The tower itself looked like a standing Kremling, or lizard.

"Yup, we dealt with him before, he's pretty stupid," said Diddy.

"I know that he came here for revenge… Probably to kill me," said DK. "I don't want anyone else to be in danger…"

"So you're going to go in and face Rool?" Fox asked.

"At least get his attention, so he won't destroy the entire isle."

"Hm, I expected you to be a lot more vicious and aggressive, but you don't seem like it…"

"That's because you never knew me in the SSBM mansion."

"Ah, right. You've got a good point there."

"Ok, I'm going out now. Diddy, I want you to stay here."

"Awww man, why do I have to stay? I want some of the action!" Diddy complained.

"Because you're too young, and I can't afford to have you in danger. You have to guard the village with the other capable ones."

"Fine… So if you're not guarding the banana hoard, then I can just go in and take all of it, since I'm the only one besides you that knows where it is!"

"What? No! Are you trying to threaten me?" DK yelled angrily. Fox chuckled.

"Well yeah, I know that you'll need my help. And I know you treasure your banana hoard with your life."

"No I don't… Fine." Diddy jumped around in joy, making back flips and cartwheels. "But make sure you don't throw yourself in danger and get in the way, or else I'll make sure you'll really get it from Cranky!"

"Fine! Fine! Geez…"

"You're pretty hard on him, DK. I'm pretty sure he'll help," said Fox with a smile.

"Yeah, but I just get worried. But we should go now, before Rool does anything."

"I concur," Fox smiled. DK made fists with his hands, Diddy took out a pair of peanut guns, and Fox unsheathed his staff.

"Let's go!"

* * *

The hallway turned into a battlefield in a matter of seconds. Fawful constantly flew away from Captain Falcon, Samus, and Jigglypuff, firing away green explosives that burned anything that the explosions touched. 

"Damn it! If only if I could get close to that bastard!" Captain Falcon yelled, rolling away from another searing bomb.

"I wish we had long range attacks…" said Jigglypuff, jumping away from another explosive.

"You fink-rats will never hit me! Come close to me, then fly away I shall!" Fawful cried, firing another barrage of bombs. "Except for you, the armored fink-rat!"

"Damn straight," said Samus. She shot her fourth super missile at Fawful, having it home in on him. For the fourth time, however, Fawful zoomed to the side at the last moment to see the missile blow up a wall.

"But you shall never hit me, for dodge your missiles I will always!"

"Damn it!" Samus grumbled. Then she turned to Falcon and pointed to the left of Fawful.

"Huh? What are you talking about, babe?" Falcon asked with a curious look.

"No time! Let's go!" Samus yelled as they both separated to dodge an explosion.

Samus aimed her cannon at Fawful, who was flying near the ceiling now. She quickly shot five missiles at the same time, each seeking out their target. However, the missiles targeted to the right of Fawful…

_Oh! I get it!_ Falcon ran to the wall to the left of Fawful, running up the wall at blinding speeds.

Fawful swerved to his right to avoid the missiles to his left. He looked down to see Captain Falcon preparing a raptor boost attack, to Fawful's right.

"RAPTOR BOOSTER!" Falcon cried, shooting out his flaming arm to strike Fawful. Immediately, Fawful flew to his left again.

"I will always dodge your attacks, you fink-rats!" he cried.

Falcon simply smiled as he fell from the wall. Fawful looked back forward to see a puffball on his chest.

REST!

Fawful was blown through the wall, with his butt on fire. "OW-EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" He cried in pain, quickly regaining his balance in the air.

"Nice one, Samus and Jiggly!" said Falcon.

Samus retracted her grappling beam, which was used to launch Jigglypuff to wear Fawful would dodge after Falcon attacked. "Yeah, it's no problem. You just need strategy, not just reckless fighting."

Jigglypuff landed. "That was… tiring…" she panted.

"Much pain I am in!" Fawful cried, tears falling out of his eyes. "I will not go easy on you fink-rats anymore! If you're serious, then serious I will be! I HAVE FURY!"

"Damn it, Jigglypuff's rest attack should have been enough to finish him off…" Falcon grumbled.

"Apparently not, and he's still up and alive," Samus replied.

"Junior Troopa! I summon you!" Fawful cried. His vacuum emitted a bright, white flash that blinded everyone in the room. When the light faded away, there was a yellow shell-less koopa encased between two halves of an egg. His yellow legs stuck out of the bottom half of the shell. The boy quickly scanned the room with his eyes.

"Fawful! I told you to only summon me when I can face Mario!" he cried. "Do I see him here? Nooooooooooooooooooooooo."

"Silence, fink-rat! You are to do as you are told, fink-rat! You can beat up Mario after you beat these fink-rats up, you fink-rat!" Fawful commanded.

But Jr. Troopa didn't obey. "DARN IT! I TOLD YOU A MILLION TIMES, BUT YOU NEVER LISTEN! I'VE HAD IT WITH YOUR ORDERING AROUND! I AM GOING TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU RIGHT NOW!"

He immediately grew wings on his back and a spike on the top of his head. He quickly pointed his head at Fawful and charged, with his aimed spike. Fawful dashed out of the way, shooting bombs at Jr. Troopa. The boy immediately drew a wand and created a psychic shield to block the bombs, then he shot his own spell at Fawful that missed. Fawful flew next to Jr. Troopa and blew him away with one final bomb, out of the window.

"Now that is taken care of, beat the fink-rats up I shall!" Fawful cried, looking down to see that the smashers had disappeared. There was a note left on the ground.

Fawful, because we're too impatient to watch you fight with your servant that you so poorly tamed, we're going to take this time to go help out our friend to beat up your master. I'm sure that we'll be finished with her by the time you finish reading this note.

Your fink-rat, Samus!

"What?" Fawful cried. "They underestimate me! Go help my mistress I must!" He flew to the door to turn the doorknob but found it locked.

PS: We've locked you out.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Fawful angrily yelled, attempting to blow down the door with his bombs. However, Cackletta had enchanted it so it wouldn't blow up, so Fawful couldn't break through. Sucks to be him, eh…


	9. Chapter 9: The Lizard and the Zinger

Hack: Yo! Been out for a week, so I haven't updated recently… But I've got tons of exciting parts thought up of! But those will have to wait for a while… This chapter and maybe the next will steer away from the battles against Cackletta to Fox's adventures on DK Isle! Enjoy!

…Actually I kinda went lazy in this chapter, not able to describe everything, so it might be dull… I just wanted to get this over with to get the plot moving on.

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Lizard and the Zinger  
**

"You ready, Fox?"

"Yeah, I'm ready anytime. Are you sure that you can aim this barrel cannon thing at the top of the fortress, Diddy?"

"Don't worry, I'm a pro at this stuff. You saw me shoot DK up to the top, no reason why you shouldn't reach it either. I didn't change the angle, so you should land right on target."

"Ok, I trust you. Shoot me out already so I can help out DK."

In all honesty, Fox didn't completely trust Diddy. He was never blasted out from a wooden barrel cannon before, so it makes sense that he was quite nervous about this.

_Well he got DK up to the top, so I might as well trust him…_

"Ready?" Diddy Kong asked.

"I'm ready."

"I'll be up there right after you get there. Don't worry," he winked as he lit the fuse to the barrel cannon.

Fox was laid in the cannon, pointed at the mouth of King K. Rool's fortress. The fuse on the rope finally reached the cannon, and Fox was shot at the fortress at frightening speeds.

"Why do I think that I've done something wrong..." said Diddy as he observed Fox flying. "Shit! I had to aim the cannon lower because Fox is lighter!"

* * *

"I guess it was ok to trust him. Looks like I'm headed for the right place," Fox said to himself with a smile. As he flew closer, he saw the doorway that leads into the fortress from the top, right between the jaws of the fortress. 

He also noticed that he was about to hit the top jaw headfirst!

"SHIT!" he cried as he braced himself for impact, crossing his arms in front of him. He painfully collided with the top jaw, falling directly in front of the doorway. There was a loud clang as Fox sat up on his butt, groaning.

"Ow… my head…" he groaned. "I'm going to get that little chimp…" He held his head in pain as he stood up to face the doorway. However, there were two blue Kremlings, armed simply with their fists, blocking the way. Both had spikes on their head, and muscles from their chest bulged. The muscles bulging from their arms clearly showed that they can destroy much more than glass.

"Who izz zis fox?" one of them asked the other.

"I think he cuzed the bang on ze zip," the other replied.

Fox cocked his head to the side. "Was it really that loud?"

"Yez, it wuz. Everyone in it heard it. We zut it wuz that ape, becuz we heard he infiltrated ze zip."

"I dun't think you cuzed the noiz zoh. You can come in, zir," one beckoned.

"Um… ok," said Fox, raising his eyebrows.

"K. Rool will be very happy to have a nize visitor here. Come in!" Both of the Kremlings stood at opposite ends of the doorway. Both opened the double doors, smiling and allowing Fox to come in.

"Thanks," said Fox as he walked by. The moment he walked through the door, the two Kremlings shut the doors, locked them, then quickly jumped towards Fox, holding their jaw-breaking fists at him.

Fox quickly drew his staff and blocked both Kremlings' punches, each on each end. He quickly twirled it once, flipping both Kremlings onto their backs. Fox swiftly sheathed his staff and held two blasters, one in each hand. He twirled them once and crouched, aiming each at each Kremling's head.

"Sorry, but I'm not stupid enough to fall for your tricks," he said, charging his blasters. "I want the both of you to lead me to your boss's room. No more tricks. Tell everyone that we see not to attack. If you don't cooperate at all…"

He shot one of his charged blaster shots at the wall, melting a large portion of it into nothing in a matter of seconds. The two Kremlings stared at the melted portion in shock and fear.

"That will happen to your heads. You understand?"

The two Kremlings weakly nodded.

"Excellent. Both of you go in front of me." Fox kicked the Kremlings up and forced them to stand in front of him, with his charged blasters aimed at their heads.

For the first time, Fox carefully observed his surroundings. Everything was black around him, save for the windows that allowed light to shine through. He was standing in a simple hall that constantly turned left, with nothing but windows. It seemed to spiral downwards to the bottom of the fortress.

"Juz… Just follow zis hall… Can you let us go now?" one of the Kremlings asked, choking back tears.

"No. I told you, lead me to your boss's room."

The group of three slowly walked down the spiraling hallway. Eventually, they reached a large, bright circular room with many Kremlings hanging out. There were a large variety: some wielded swords, some hid in barrels, some bulged with muscles, some had enormous teeth, and so on. The moment Fox walked in the room with his two hostages, the entire room seemed to focus on him. It quickly quieted down. Fox felt millions of pairs of eyes staring at him.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Who iz zat fox?"

Fox nudged his blasters into his hostages' heads on cue.

"Er… Don't attack!"

"He got uz good! Don't attack or elz we will die!"

The entire room quickly turned silent again. Fox pushed the two Kremlings forward, slowly walking through the room.

"Which way is it?" he hissed into their ears. The hostage Kremlings shivered as they felt Fox's hot threatening breath shoot down their neck.

"Z…. Zat way…" one of the hostages pointed at another door.

"Thanks. Any more directions?"

"Zat's it… Just follow ze hall."

"Thanks. Now if you will excuse me…" Fox turned his back to the door that the Kremling pointed at. He quickly held one of his hostages in front of him, and the other behind him, using them as shields. He slowly walked backwards towards the door.

"Remember, if they attack, you…"

"WOO HOO!" someone screamed. An enormous rhino barged through the wall, plowing its horn on its head through many Kremlings, sending them flying upwards. Donkey Kong sat on the rhino's back, smiling.

Immediately, Diddy Kong appeared above DK, flying with a barrel jetpack. He held a pair of peanut guns, sniping at farther Kremlings with them.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Fox yelled, dropping his hostages to avoid a blow to the head.

"We thought you needed help, so we came in!"

"I had everything taken care of, dude! You're so stupid!"

"Shut up, Fox! DK! We have things to take care of!" Diddy yelled.

"Ah… right. Let's go Rambi!" DK cried, giving a shove on the rhino's neck. Rambi quickly crouched, and then he charged through an enormous group of Kremlings with his enormous horn, knocking them all out. Diddy Kong continuously hovered above the group of Kremlings, shooting peanuts at nearby Kremlings, knocking them out.

_They probably got everything under control here… Might as well move on by myself._ Fox quickly took out a couple Kremlings in his way with his staff and dashed through the doorway that should lead to King K. Rool's room.

DK lifted one of his arms up, carrying another barrel that said TNT. All of the Kremlings gasped in fear as all of them grouped together and backed off to a wall.

"Who wants me to throw this?" he asked with a wide smile.

"DK! Are you sure you want to threaten them with that?" Diddy asked.

"Of course I do, it's the smartest thing!"

Ironically, a Kremling hiding inside a wooden barrel tossed a small bomb at DK. It hit his TNT barrel, causing him to lose his grip and drop the TNT.

"Oh shit…" everyone in the room murmured the moment before the TNT touched the ground.

* * *

"What the hell?" was the only thing Fox could say the moment he reached the room at the end of the hall. It was a cylindrical room, with the ceiling what seemed to be 10 miles above the ground. 

Rather than seeing King K. Rool, an enormous Kremling, he saw an enormous zinger, or simply put a freakishly large yellow-striped bee with two eyes. Rather than having only one stinger at its end, it had several over its body.

"Who the hell are you?" Fox asked. The zinger said nothing as it quickly charged towards Fox. Fox turned around to open the door he entered through, just to find it locked.

"Oh great, this is wonderful…" he sarcastically said to himself. "And I'm fighting a mutant mute bee…"

He quickly rolled to the side to avoid the tackle as he drew his staff and blaster, one in each hand.

"Well, if you want to play with me, then let's play!"

The zinger turned around and charged at Fox again. Fox jumped over the charging bee, shooting a charged blaster shot at the top of it. The zinger flinched as it turned around, blinking. It charged again, and Fox pulled off the same maneuver, this time on the head.

"Is that all you've got?" he teased, waving his blaster. The zinger suddenly turned red, having red stripes on itself. The stingers scattered on its body were blown off, flying with their points towards Fox!

Fox did the smartest thing he could do at this moment. He crouched and turned on his reflector, protecting him from all of the flying stingers. All of the stingers flew back at the zinger, but none of them seemed to affect him.

Although Fox's reflector was a powerful and stategic weapon, it was not perfect. After what seemed like an hour of reflecting stingers, Fox's reflector suddenly gave away from several minutes of reflecting.

"SHIT!" He cried, bracing himself for intense pain. The thin stingers impaled him on every inch of the front side of his body. He screamed in pain, as if a million killer bees were stabbing him all over his body. After a few seconds, the stingers gave away. Fox staggered, blood dripping all over the ground and pointy needle-like stingers stuck on his body.

"That was… damn uncalled for…" he could only grunt as he stood up again. The red zinger seemed to rejoice in inflicting pain on Fox, as it danced around in the air for a few seconds. It quickly increased its altitude by what seemed like miles, now looking like a minute fly near the ceiling.

"What now?" Fox groaned.

It charged at Fox. Again. This time, however, it was charging MUCH faster than before; it had increased its speed tenfold. Fox instinctively rolled to the side to avoid the charge as the bee flew back up to the ceiling again.

"Fine, be that way…" He drew a rifle and peeked through its crosshairs. In a few seconds, moments before the zinger charged again, a red beam of energy shot through the air, piercing through the zinger.

Fox had just sniped the zinger with the sniper rifle.

The zinger's altitude slowly fell as it danced around in pain, losing control of its flight. Fox's sniper rifle had clipped one of its wings.

Fox shot another blast of energy through the sniper rifle, accurately sniping the zipper's other wings. The zipper, now without wings, fell to the ground, unable to move at all.

Fox took his chance. He painfully flipped into the air with his staff and landed on the stinger-less bee, his staff stabbing through the center of the bee's body. The large zinger let out a loud buzz before it closed its eye, finally dead.

"Finally… Teaches you a lesson…" he said. "Those morons lead me in the wrong direction, damn it! If I find those assholes again, I swear I will…"

He made a violent gesture with his hands, one so violent that would instantly lead this story into rated R.

He looked to the other side and saw another door that he had never noticed in his fight against the zinger. "Well, well! Maybe they did lead me in the right direction… Wonder what's behind this door…"

He opened the door and walked in a room with a large throne, and a large control panel in front of it. When he saw what was in front of the throne, however, he was only able to say one thing.

"What the fuck…"

* * *

"What zee fook! Zis iz a dud! That TNT was a stupid dud!" one of the Kremlings screamed. 

Diddy Kong looked up at DK. "Did you do that on purpose?"

"Of course I did, you doofus! What kind of idiot would bring a real TNT? You know how powerful a normal TNT is! Geez…"

"Look who's talking..." muttered Diddy.

"You tricked uz…" the Kremlings growled.

"Um… so what if I did?" DK asked.

Suddenly, Fox ran into the room from where he entered hours ago with a terrified face. Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy. He was breathing heavily, sweat rolling down his face out of fear. All of his weapons were sheathed and he glanced at DK and Diddy.

"Everyone, get the hell out of this place if you want to live!"

"What the heck are you talking about?" asked DK.

"IT'S GONNA DAMN BLOW!" Fox screamed at DK.

These four words were enough to trigger one extra word: chaos. All of the Kremlings screamed, running around and trying to get through the door that led upward to the exit. All they wanted was to get out for their lives.

DK, Diddy Kong, and Fox followed the Kremlings when one of them shut the door in front of them, locking it.

"Oh great! Now what do we do?" Diddy cried.

"What happened, dude! What happened to King K. Rool?" DK asked.

"He's dead, and there's a huge time bomb planted next to him. THIS PLACE IS GONNA BLOW AND YOU'RE ASKING QUESTIONS AT A TIME LIKE THIS? WHAT THE HELL! WE'RE FUCKING LOCKED IN FOR GOODNESS SAKE!" Fox screamed.

"Chill! We came in through a different entrance. Just follow us!" Diddy calmly replied. DK nodded and grabbed Fox's light body as both apes ran towards a different door.

To make things simple, all three got out safely from underwater through an alternate passage. The Kremlings weren't close to being as lucky.

"WHAT'S THE HOLD UP?"

"I CAN'T OPEN THIS DOOR, SOMEONE CLOSED IT! AND IT'S THE ENTRANCE DOOR!"

"FIND A WAY TO OPEN IT! OPEN IT, DAMN IT!"

_**BOOM**_

The fortress exploded, sending debris and dead bodies everywhere over the ocean. Fox, DK, and Diddy barely swam out of the explosion. Must suck to be one of those Kremlings…

The three sat on one of the islands, panting.

"That was… tiring… and stupid… Who killed him?" DK asked.

"I have no…" But Fox stopped his answer. He looked up to see a humongous black warship surrounded by countless smaller warships, where each of those was surrounded by even smaller warships. All of the ships were flying away, but some still lingered above DK Isle.

"Sorry, guys, I have to leave you here. I'm going to go in those ships," said Fox. "See ya!"

This was so sudden, that DK and Diddy couldn't say anything as Fox elegantly leaped up ledge to ledge and eventually to the top of the DK Isle, close enough to reach one of the ships. He jumped up high on top of one of the ships, and looked at the largest warship. The back of it said "HALBERD", but what was most noticeable was a blue-haired man climbing up a rope into the Halberd, and it seemed that he just escaped from King K. Rool's fortress…


	10. Chapter 10: A Lightning Charged Fight

Hack: This chapter was pretty long, and I got pretty lazy on the Cackletta fight too. Sorry... But I'm more focused on the general plot. Trust me, the next worlds will be much more involved than this...

* * *

**Chapter 10: A Lightning Charged Fight **

Popo, Nana, Marth, Pichu, and Kirby stood at the entrance of the Smash Mansion, Kirby furiously knocking on the door.

"I can't believe that I have to go with a bunch of little brats…" Marth murmured.

"Shut up! We can all hear you from down here!" Pichu yelled.

"There's nobody answering! What's taking them so long?" Kirby complained as he knocked on the door again. "And I didn't hear any explosions yet, and we've waited here for half an hour. I'd expect even Captain Falcon to open the door for us!"

"Move aside, Kirby!" Popo shoved Kirby aside with Nana next to him, then they both smashed the stable door down with their dual hammers. The group of five walked inside, expecting to see the previous group of five in the mansion.

Instead, they saw the dark insides of the mansion, no power, no people, none. None at all.

"What the hell…" Everyone but Marth said. Marth bravely walked into the room and spotted a note on the floor.

Hey, it's Samus! For the next group coming over to watch over the hands, we've left. Supposedly, we're supposed to save the world from these weirdos that have this power of the Endowment of Exigency. I hope you all have fun staying here without any power, because the power source is out.

"No… electricity?" Pichu cried, tears falling on his face. But his voice was barely heard.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The four others yelled. "WE CAN'T WATCH SEINFELD!"

* * *

"There, I've brought you that carcass," said Nergal. "Now what do you want me to do with it?" 

The other dark one looked at Nergal. "Was there any more power of the Endowment of Exigency in Ridley?"

"No, and even if there was any power, I'd take the precious power for myself…"

"You know what the master would do if he heard you say that, Nergal."

"Well the master may be more powerful than me, but it is impossible for you to lay a finger on him either, Black Shadow!"

Black Shadow entered the light from the darkness. "Yes, it may be, but remember that I am unmatched in technique by anyone in here. The only ones that have defeated me in fair combat are the master and Metaknight. You have only defeated King K. Rool, Nergal…"

"By the way, was it you that killed him, Black Shadow?"

"No, and if you weren't here, I'd believe it was you, since he was so much of a weakling that even you can defeat him."

"You are angering me…"

"Of course. That is the point."

"...someone stole King K. Rool's powers too. I suspect it was someone of our league."

"Hmph. If so?"

"I will probably be next."

"Go right ahead. Get killed. Get your precious power stolen."

"Never! I will arm myself and become stronger than all of you! I will find those who have been defeated and take their power! The next one most likely to be killed will be Cackletta."

"You don't have faith that she will defeat the Mario Brothers?"

"No. She is a weakling. She does not even know how to unleash her Ren Kiu form."

"Neither do you, Nergal."

"Shut your blabbering mouth, fool. I shall master it one day, and my ranking shall go up!"

"Whatever."

"What about the plans to conquer the worlds?"

Black Shadow smiled evilly. "They are all already in action."

* * *

"You don't seem so tough now, do you Luigi?" Cackletta cackled. Luigi panted, obviously tired. He faced over a hundred Cacklettas, and all but one was fake clones. Next to him was an unconscious Mario. 

Luigi was constantly moving to dodge the constant barrages of lightning bolts; there were too many of them to control. He just mastered these new powers recently anyways.

"Damn it, there's too many of them…" He murmured as he jumped to the nearest clone and took it out with a powerful punch. He jumped on another and kicked off of it, landing on the ground.

Mario coughed and slowly kneeled up. Luigi looked down at him.

"Mario! You're back?"

"Ow… It's impossible for me to take her out alone…"

"Yeah… Well it's been a while… Let's do it together."

Both brothers held hands. "Yeah," said Mario. Luigi quickly jumped on Mario's head with an electric orb charged in his hands. Mario threw Luigi up into the air as Luigi shot the orb into the ground, zapping everything on the ground. Mario quickly hopped to avoid this. The clones weren't so lucky, as all of them disappeared except for the real deal.

"What?" Cackletta gasped. Before she could do anything else, Mario jumped on top of Luigi. Luigi grabbed his brother's feet as they both floated through the air, spinning like a top.

"Advanced?" Luigi asked.

"Of course."

Cackletta drew her wand and shot a bolt of electricity at Luigi. Luigi quickly threw Mario into the air with his head as he stopped the bolt with a snap. Mario, spinning like a top, dropped into Cackletta, drilling into her body.

"Advanced Splash Brothers!" Mario cried as he expertly flipped off of Cackletta. Cackletta slowly got back on her feet, staggering.

"You… I won't meet that same fate as before! Take this!" A dark hole appeared below Luigi, who was alert enough to jump to the side to avoid it. Soon, Mario dodged another dark hole, attempting to swallow him.

"Is that it? You're just using the same tricks as before!" Luigi yelled. "And I expected you to be more powerful than before!"

"I'm only getting warmed up!" said Cackletta as she boarded her broom and hovered high above the Mario brothers. She briefly lifted her hands up, crying "Thunderbolt!"

A single bolt of lightning shot out from her wand, aimed at Mario. Mario quickly wavedashed backwards to avoid it, but the moment the bolt touched the ground, an enormous force field of electricity engulfed Mario, shocking him.

Luigi acted quickly. He held his hand at the force field and snapped, using his mind and hands to make it disappear. When it disappeared, however, Mario was nowhere to be seen!

"Mario!" Luigi cried. Cackletta smiled.

"Well, well, my attack must have made him disappear!" she cackled. "Not so cocky now, are you?"

Luigi said nothing. Cackletta quickly fired several thunderbolts at Luigi, who simply deflected them with his hands as he ran towards the wall. He jumped up high and kicked off the wall to gain more height, in range of Cackletta.

"What?"

Fire surrounded his right arm, while electricity surrounded his left arm. Before Cackletta could do anything, Luigi charged both his hands into Cackletta's body, engulfing her with shocking fires.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she cried, falling off her broom. Luigi grabbed her broom as he fell, and snapped it in half with his knee with little trouble. On the ground, he whirled around to see the witch, back on her feet again.

"I've been holding back up until now… I won't hold anything back now!" Cackletta cried as she held her palms out in the front. An enormous force field surrounded her.

"You can't hurt me now, I am now invincible with the power of the Star Rod! You can't possibly defeat me!"

Luigi still stayed silent. He quickly ran up to Cackletta, deflecting all bolts of lightning shot towards him. He flipped into the air and landed on the witch's arm. He kicked off, at the same time delivering a karate chop to her face. As he fell, he gave a fierce drill kick and upwards flip kick at Cackletta's back, causing her to fall. She immediately got back on her feet yet again, seemingly unharmed.

"I told you, you can't harm me now you fool!"

"…so it really is the star rod… But do you know its full potential?"

"What? Of course I do! I am the great witch!"

"Yeah right, you'd have destroyed me by now if you knew it. Sorry, but I'm pretty sure that I can break through your barriers."

Out of anger, Cackletta shot multiple bolts of lightning at Luigi, who simply deflected them to the side telepathically. He quickly ran up to the witch and rolled around her, avoiding all of her attacks. He stood behind her and snapped his fingers. An enormous lightning bolt struck Cackletta with full force, piercing the star barriers and zapping Cackletta.

"You know, if you could shoot lightning out of the barriers, then who said the barriers didn't let lightning go in?" said Luigi. "Of course, this wouldn't have happened if you actually knew the star rod's full potential."

"You… insult my witchcraft?" Cackletta said, getting back on her feet. "I was simply caught… off guard!"

"We'll see about that," said Luigi. He took off his white gloves, showing his pitch-black hands. He threw those gloves aside and grabbed a pair of green identical gloves from his pockets.

"I just stitched these recently in my free time on Samus's ship," he explained, strapping them on. "I thought something like this would happen. Why would an idiotic witch like you be able to master the star rod? Even Bowser knows its full potential. Oh, wait, but he's a really powerful guy too. There's no way that someone ten times weaker than someone who could barely master the star rod can do the same."

Cackletta was fuming by now, unable to take any more of Luigi's insults. She immediately raised her hands into the air, black clouds appearing near the ceiling.

"Rain Dance!" she cried as dark rain fell upon everyone in the room. Luigi and Cackletta were both completely drenched in water now, and anyone who ever watched one episode of pokemon should know that water conducts electricity.

"I shall use my most potent attack, an attack that even you can't control!" Cackletta yelled, shaking a finger at Luigi. She raised both her hands into the air, crying "**Thunder!**"

The clouds above roared as they opened up, allowing various beams of electricity to thunder through. All of them were targeted either at Luigi or near him. Luigi simply stood there, raising one of his hands.

"You underestimate me. Now you will know how much of a difference these new weapons will make." The beams struck the ground and Luigi, sparks flying everywhere. The explosions were so bright that even Cackletta couldn't see anything. When the light disappeared, Luigi was still standing with the same posture, unfazed. Sparks of lightning were seen on his gloves, as if they were charged with electricity.

"What? How could this be? You should be dead by now! What happened? I demand that you tell me!" Cackletta yelled.

"It wouldn't make a difference if I told you now or not, so I'll tell you. Simply put, I absorbed all of your attacks with these gloves."

"Wait… So… you can release it… afterwards?"

"That's for you to find out." Luigi placed his hands on the ground, charging another electric attack. Enormous balls of electricity surrounded his gloves as Luigi started to run towards the witch. He held out his open palms and released the electricity.

"YOU FOOLS CANNOT DEFEAT ME! I AM…" But Cackletta was cut off. Lightning covered every inch of the room in front of Luigi. There was no way for her to dodge it. Bolts of lightning coursed through everything, and pierced through Cackletta's star barrier. And the fact that Cackletta was already wet pretty much guarantees death.

When the lightning disappeared, Cackletta was nowhere to be seen. Her black cloak and her broom were lying on the ground. The entire room in front of Luigi was pitch black, everything burnt to ashes. All of the windows were blown up. Luigi fell on the ground on his back, panting.

"Damn… That was tiring… I never really tried these in a serious fight before…" he said to himself.

Suddenly he felt something heavy crash on his body. Painfully. Another object fell on him. And another. And five more. The last one was definitely the heaviest, as it was ten times heavier than all the other combined.

"Finally! You got us to the right place!" Captain Falcon yelled. "Just trying to break down the door would be much more easier than trusting you to use teleport!"

"Sorry! I'm really sorry!" Jigglypuff cried.

"Stop being so harsh on her!"

"Man, can't you fuckers just shut up?"

"I don't seem to be able to find Luigi or Cackletta in this room…"

"Um, because you all landed on top of me?" Luigi murmured under the pile of people. There were many murmurs of sorry, and everyone got off of Luigi's body.

"What the hell just happened anyways?" Luigi asked.

"That freakin teleport screwed us over…" Bowser said.

"Just shut up!" Samus yelled at him.

"While everyone else is arguing, I'll explain what happened," Geno said as he walked up to Luigi.

* * *

_After several pointless minutes, Fawful finally gave up on trying to get the door to open._

"_My mistress… How will she cope with those fink rats without me? They have locked me out, because fought with my servant I have…"_

_CRASH! A barrage of lightning bolts struck Fawful off guard, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious. Peach, Bowser, Geno, and Mallow ran past Fawful, reaching the locked door._

"_You're sure that he's an enemy?" Mallow asked._

"_Of course. We fought him outside of the princess's castle," Geno answered._

_Bowser angrily banged on the door. "Damn it, there's no fucking way to get past this!"_

"_Really? It must be some sort of spell that Cackletta placed on it. And I think somebody locked the door from inside. I do not believe that sheer strength will open it."_

_Right on cue, four people fell on top of the group, causing them all to tumble and fall on the ground._

"_What the fuck?"_

"_Who's there?"_

"_Oh, it's just you guys."_

_Everyone got back up to see Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Samus standing before them. Samus had Mario on her shoulder._

"_Sorry, I misaimed it again…" Jigglypuff apologized. "I'm not used to using Teleport…"_

_Samus shrugged. "At least you saved Mario with a misaimed teleport, but unless u get it right this time, we can't get back in."_

"_Man, Mario was in big trouble! He was about to get blown up by a bunch of bolts around him and we teleported right beside him!" Falcon exclaimed._

_Peach ran up to Samus, looking at the unconscious Mario. "Is he all right?"_

"_Just a bit beaten I think, but nothing a good rest can't cure!"_

"_Hey, can you also get us in that room?" Mallow asked Jigglypuff._

"_Well, if all of you can manage to touch me when I use teleport, sure… But I can't guarantee that I'll aim it right…"_

"_It's worth a try," said Geno. "Let's do it."_

_

* * *

_

"Then we ended up here after a few mis-aimed teleports. Right on top of you," Geno finished his short story.

By then, the room had calmed down and everyone knew what was going on. Mario was still unconscious, however.

"At least I know Mario's safe… And we finished off another villain," said Luigi.

"What villain?" all of the others asked.

Luigi sighed as he laid himself on the ground again. He looked up to the three other smashers. "You tell them everything, I'm exhausted."

The smashers smiled. "Fine, but you'll have to tell us how you beat Cackletta."

And so the smashers told the others everything that happened, their encounter with Metaknight, the defeat of Ridley, the Omega Pirate, and Kraid, and their separation from Fox.

"Wow… And you still have quite a few left…" Peach said.

Bowser nodded. "Don't worry about that punk, he'll definitely beat the shit out of any mother-fucker that messes with him."

"I agree, dude. Fox is a total beast at super smash."

"It's quite a story, I must admit. Right now, we are lucky that none of the civilians got involved with this conflict," said Geno. "I must return the star rod immediately."

"Geno! You just left us the moment we defeated Smithy years ago! This time, can't you just stay with us?" said Peach.

"I'm afraid not."

"Come on!" said Mallow. "Just chill out with us for one night! You'll need that rest."

Peach whirled around to the four smashers. "And I'm not letting _you_ guys off! We're going to have a victory dinner tonight at my castle and you're all going to rest, no excuses! Especially you, Luigi!"

Luigi sighed. "But we're short on time…"

"Not really, it's only been one week. It'll all be over within one month."

Samus sighed as well. "Well, one night can't hurt. Why not?"

"But as Geno mentioned, we were lucky that none of the innocents weren't involved," said Luigi. "We'll have to leave tomorrow immediately. Who knows what could happen in other worlds?"

Peach sighed. "Please, Luigi... You can leave tomorrow at dawn, but at least get some rest."

* * *

Two wired frames stood guard directly in front of a large door, the windows showing that they were on a flying ship. Everything around them was somewhat dark, though not black. 

"Did you hear?" one of them said. "That King K. Rool got killed! Just today!"

"Yeah, who could survive an explosion like that? He's near the bottom of the villain list and he definitely won't get out!"

"But I heard that it wasn't the explosion that killed him. It was one of the higher authorities."

"Hm?"

The wired frame scooted closer to the other's ear and whispered, "I heard it was Alex."

"So he planted the bomb as well?"

"So the rumors said. He killed King K. Rool right on the spot with his Mercury Adept powers. Psyenergy, he called it? Anyways, he and a couple others figured that King K. Rool wasn't using his powers, the Endowment of Exigency, properly. So they killed him to make sure it doesn't go to waste."

"How selfish."

"Yup. I also heard that… What?"

The other wired frame fell to the ground, a red laser visible through his body. The laser vanished as the one alive searched for the attacker.

BAM. Fox came flying down, storing his sniper rifle and wielding his staff, slamming the end of his staff on the wired frame's head. It immediately went unconscious.

"Damn… I shouldn't have hit him so hard, so I could question him. Oh well!" He looked at the large door that said, "HALBERD"

"Looks like this is the door to the boss's room. Might as well go in." He opened the door, and as he walked in, the doors immediately shut behind him.

Inside, he saw a control center and three people, two very familiar.

"You! What are you doing here, pup?" Wolf yelled.

"…who are you?" Alex asked.

"So we meet again, Fox," said Metaknight.

Fox held out his staff in one hand, a blaster in his other. "Yes, it's me. And I suppose it would bother you guys if I finished all of you one by one?"

Alex walked forward, drawing his sword. "You seem like an interesting enemy, I'll take you on."

"You must be Alex, the fifth in command on the list."

"What the… That's confined information!"

"Information I found on K. Rool's desk, thank you very much. If I defeat you, then I'll be perfectly warmed up to take on you two!" Fox pointed at Wolf and Metaknight.

"Pah! Just because you were able to defeat Ridley's underling doesn't mean you should get so cocky! His power is nothing compared with ours! _Froth Spiral!_"

Several blue bubbles of water surrounded Alex and shot towards Fox, surrounding and closing in on him. Fox quickly crouched and turned on his reflector, deflecting every bubble shot at him. He quickly ran after wavedashing once towards Alex. He threw his staff forward in a horizontal swing. Alex quickly retaliated by holding out his sword in defense. Fox crouched and swung his staff at Alex's legs, tripping him. He jumped up, preparing himself for a powerful ground quake attack on Alex's head.

Alex quickly jumped up, and cried, "_Ice Missile!_" Before Fox could initiate his attack, several long, sharp icicles shot towards Fox out of nowhere.

"Stop!" Metaknight cried. Alex quickly stopped his attack and Fox stood up, panting.

Metaknight walked forward. "Alex, stand back. I want to test this man again," he said.

"Who told you could order me around?"

"Who is the one more powerful than you? Who is the one with higher authority?"

Alex silently backed off as Metaknight approached Fox, drawing his long sword.

"You wanted to face me, yes?" he asked.

"Of course. I was itching for a rematch. Trust me, I was only caught by surprise back at the mansion. This time will be different."

"Then let's begin!"

Fox and Metaknight charged towards each other, clanging their weapons. At first, it seemed like they were equal, but Metaknight started to gain an advantage from his small body.

At this point, Metaknight decided to stop playing with Fox. He swiftly jumped into the air to avoid a tail sweep from Fox. He held his sword out like a sex kick and dropped himself on Fox. Fox attempted to bring his staff up to block it, but he was too slow. Metaknight's sword pierced through Fox's shoulder, blood spurting out of it.

"ARGH!" Fox cried, holding his cut arm as Metaknight drew back.

"If you do not keep an eye on your enemy, you will not win!"

"What?"

Metaknight glided forward and threw his sword into Fox's unexpecting body, right next to his stomach. Before Fox could cry out in pain, Metaknight pulled his sword out and diagonally slashed Fox's body again, sending him flying into the wall.

Metaknight slowly approached the almost-unconscious Fox. "Any last words?"

Fox gasped for breath. "You… I'm going to… defeat you one day…"

Metaknight grabbed Fox's body, which seemed weird because Fox was three times taller than Metaknight. The knight dragged Fox toward the window and opened it, seeing another world below.

"Stand up," he said. Fox slowly stood up, trembling in pain and holding his staff out.

"As you can see, we are in outer space. Below us is Eagleland, another world. If you survive this one attack… My Ren Kiu form… And fully recover in that world, then I believe you may grow stronger. Become a worthy enemy of me next time we meet."

Metaknight's body slowly flashed yellow and held a much larger blade. Fox couldn't make out the details, but he could tell it was insanely powerful.

"_Halcyon… Form!_" said Metaknight. He held the insanely huge blade to his side and dashed towards Fox with frightening speeds. Before Fox could retaliate with his already injured body, Metaknight dealt one final slash on Fox's body, knocking him off of the ship and into the world below.

Metaknight's sword disappeared. "No normal person can survive a slash from this sword. If you do, you are a worthy enemy. Grow stronger, Fox!"


	11. Chapter 11: The Ren Kiu Form

Hack: Just another transitioning chapter, with a bit of filler in it that might solve a few questions. The smashers will be visiting another world from a very popular game…

It's also a bit short, which explains how I got this chapter finished so darn fast.

And I totally bsed the words "Ren Kiu," it doesn't mean anything. Maybe it does, but I don't know japanese.

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Ren Kiu Form  
**

Mario opened the door to his house, slowly followed by Luigi. It was dark outside, clearly night, and everyone else was asleep. "Man, it's been a long time since I've been here," he said.

Luigi nodded. "Yeah…"

Mario stretched his back as he walked into another room, one that looked like it could start up another SSBM battle. "How about a battle? Just for fun."

"Eh… I'm a bit exhausted…"

"I haven't tried any battle for years… And don't worry, you'll feel perfectly fine the moment we start. Remember the refresher of the system, you know..."

"All right," Luigi smiled. "But only smash moves."

* * *

"This is a one-stock one on one battle with no items on Final Destination! Ready? GO!" 

Luigi quickly initiated the battle with a couple fireballs at Mario, who deflected all of them with his cape. As Luigi wavedashed to dodge his own fireballs, Mario jumped towards Luigi and smashed his fist into his head. Before Luigi could retaliate, Mario short hopped and used a flip kick to knock Luigi a bit towards the edge. Mario quickly fell on the floor, wavedashed towards the falling Luigi, and used a short-hopped flip kick again.

Now off the stage, Luigi jumped, directly above Mario, and used his own drill kick that knocked Mario to the ground. He crouched and stuck out his leg to trip up Mario and quickly smashed his head upwards to knock Mario skyward. Luigi jumped up towards Mario, prepared to use a deadly karate-chop attack.

Mario swiftly used a sex kick and struck Luigi on the head, catching him off guard. Immediately, Mario smashed his fist into Luigi, spiking him back onto the stage. After landing next to Luigi, Mario used a trip kick like Luigi did to him and charged his hand. The moment Luigi was next to him, Mario released his explosion smash attack.

But Luigi quickly air dodged to the side to avoid it. Before Mario could react, Luigi sent out his karate chop attack to knock Mario to the other side of the stage.

"Wow, you've gotten a lot better than the last time we fought," said Mario.

"Yeah, I've had a lot of practice. I'm still near the bottom chain of my smash group, though… Only person I could consistently beat is Captain Falcon." Luigi said, taking a step back. "Sometimes I feel like I have to go back to fighting him to get better and beat Fox and Jigglypuff…"

"Don't."

"What?"

"Don't ever take a step back," said Mario. He pulled back his right foot and tapped it on the ground. "If you take a step back, you will lose sight of your true goal. It will become impossible to succeed. Always, ALWAYS keep moving forward. Who's next in line, Samus? Always keep fighting her until you can consistently beat her. But NEVER take a step back."

"…"

"You can't take a step back, or else your true goal will be lost. That's my advice for you today."

"…Thanks, brother. I'll keep that in mind. Let's continue, shall we?" Both brothers smiled.

Luigi wavedashed towards Mario and swerved his legs around in a break dance. Mario quickly wavedashed backwards to avoid the attack. He quickly wavedashed back towards Luigi and used a short-hopped sex kick. Luigi was sent flying off the stage as he used a green missile in an attempt to grab the edge.

Oops, Mario jumped off and threw his giant fist towards Luigi, spiking him down. Luigi quickly recovered with a mid-air jump followed by a super jump punch to grab the edge. Mario quickly flung his cape to turn Luigi's body in the opposite direction so Luigi couldn't grab the edge. As Mario recovered with his own jump punch, Luigi fell into the abyss, unable to do anything.

"GAME!"

* * *

"_What the hell just happened here?"_

_Fox approached the fresh carcass of King K. Rool. He simply looked like an overweight, tall Kremling with a red cape and a crown to top it off. Rather than seeing pools of blood, Fox saw pools of… water? Shards of ice were also laying around the carcass._

"_This is really scary…"_

_He observed the carcass for what seemed like several minutes and finally came to the conclusion that King K. Rool was dead. He was also killed very recently... probably a few minutes before Fox came in the room.  
_

"_That saves some work for me though… Two down! Might as well check out his stuff."_

_Fox looked at the computer that lay before him. He walked up to it and exited the screensaver. What appeared before him was an open document._

'_Day XII Month III Year XXIV_

_These are the secret papers for our Ring of Darkness from number six, King K. Rool. It is imperative that you read this the moment you open it. It contains the secret research that Metaknight, Black Shadow, and Cackletta have looked upon on the Endowment of Exigency. Indeed, it has immense power, more power than anyone could imagine. However, one must master this power. It is dependent on the user's abilities. The most important part is one's Ren Kiu form._

_Ren Kiu is the ability to transform one's self or a part of one self or a tool to gain immense power and speed. Once transformed, one's abilities will more than double. Granted, it is not easy to obtain, since it is dependent on the user's abilities. One can only obtain Ren Kiu if he or she is powerful enough and his or her will is strong. Also, the amount of power that one has of the Endowment of Exigency affects the Ren Kiu form._

_As of now, only a little more than half of our Ring of Darkness has mastered it, everyone up to the sixth ranking. It makes sense that you will not be able to master it unless the others above you are more powerful. I have observed and researched everyone's capabilities in our Ring of Darkness, all eleven, and ranked everyone with a number between one and eleven. One being the strongest. Here is the complete list that I have come to a conclusion with._

_1. The Master_

_2. Metaknight_

_3. Black Shadow_

_4. Wolf O'Donnell_

_5. Alex_

_6…'_

_Fox couldn't read anymore after he saw who was on the sixth ranking. He did find it amusing that King K. Rool was on the bottom, as he chuckled._

"_Well he must've been a pushover then… But I can't believe it… that fucking traitor… Eh, I might as well e-mail this to myself so I can look over the rest of it later and show it to the others... once I meet up with them."_

_Fox signed on to the internet and e-mailed the papers to himself when suddenly he heard something fall from the open hole in the ceiling. He turned around to see a timed bomb._

"_Shit…"_

_

* * *

_

"So you're leaving now…"

Luigi, Samus, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon stood outside of the entrance to Peach's castle, the princess standing by the entrance, facing the smashers.

"I won't ask you all to stay as I know you're all busy. But I'm glad you're all refreshed for your next journey out…"

Luigi looked around. "Where's Mario?"

"Apparently his vacation wasn't complete yesterday, so he went back to enjoy it. He left no message, since he didn't want anyone to disturb him…"

"Typical Mario… Figures…" Luigi sighed.

"Are you sure you're going to be fine?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I'm used to it, so don't worry about it. What about Bowser, Mallow, and Geno?"

Falcon looked around as well. "Yeah I don't see any of them."

Peach sighed. "They're all busy… Bowser's back at his castle, training to become more powerful than Mario as usual. Mallow, being the prince, is back in Nimbus Land and Geno went back to Star Haven to return the star rod. Everything's going on as if nothing happened... It's so strange... But It's not a bad thing. Everyone's back to their normal schedule."

"Not surprising… Well, we're pretty busy too. We have to leave really soon," said Luigi

"Yup. Good luck on your journey!"

Falcon ran up to Peach and gave her a thumbs up. "Don't worry, gal, we'll definitely be fine with me around! Bummer we can't have a hot gal like you though..." he gave her a quick wink. Samus sighed.

"So it's not just me… Phew."

After a couple insance slaps and frying pans on Falcon, the smashers gave their good-byes and thanks to Princess Peach, heading back to Luigi's house to hitch another ride on Samus's ship. Peach watched the ship fly sky high into the air and disappear off the face of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"You're journey just started… Too bad I can't go with you guys to help… I'll pray to the stars for your safety and success," she said as she walked back to the castle to begin reconstructing it.

* * *

"Samus, babe, can you check the rank of us five smashers on the smash list?" Falcon asked Samus from behind. 

"Don't call me babe. And yes, Fox is ranked first, followed by Jigglypuff, me, Luigi, and you. Apparently you're at the bottom. Not living up to your standards, are you?"

"Shush, fool. Maybe I'll go face Luigi right now."

"No, he said that he wanted to face me in his next fight. Too bad."

"Damn him…" Falcon walked away, closing the door behind him. Samus was now completely alone in the pilot's compartment.

"…Adam…" she called. Below the window appeared another screen that showed a map and a textbox.

The textbox started to have letters quickly typed in it, as if it had its own mind. "What is it, my lady?" it asked.

"…Do you think he's right?"

"Who?"

"…You know who I'm talking about. Do you really think that… I don't deserve to… live?"

"I am… not sure."

"I feel that Ridley was right…"

The door behind her suddenly opened. Caught by surprise, Samus quickly turned off her assistant computer and whirled around. She turned in her chair so fast that she fell on the ground in pain, knocking her elbow on the corner of the desk.

"Ouch… Are you ok? I'm really sorry," said Luigi, crouching to check on Samus who just fell.

"No, I'm fine… You just surprised me… Just checking where we're off to next…"

"Yeah I was about to ask you about that, since Falcon's been bothering me and Jigglypuff about it all day."

Samus scanned her map. "But what are we going to do about Fox?"

Luigi shrugged. "Yeah, we're all worried about him… But I'm sure he'll be fine. He's on the top of the list, dude! You remember when all twenty six of us had tournaments all day?"

"Oh yeah, I remember…"

"Four time champion… out of nine tournaments. He was the top. The only person that came even _close_ to winning so many tournaments was Mario, who won only two. The three other tournaments were won by different smashers each."

"Yeah…"

"So don't worry about him, I'm sure he'll be fine, Samus."

"Hm… This is interesting… We seem to have some problems…"

"What?"

"To answer your previous question, we're going to end up at Hyrule, the nearest world. It'll take us a couple days, four at maximum, to get there."

Luigi smiled. He and Link were good friends. The fact that they both liked green started their close friendship. "I wonder how Link's doing…"

Samus frowned. "That's the problem. We have no idea. According to my computer, when I looked up the universe news, there is a worldwide civil war in Hyrule."

* * *

It was a very peaceful town, very modern like our world today. Houses, computers, cars, school kids, banks, drug stores, trash, hippies, you name it. There are also sightings of UFOs and aliens in the skies, which makes it a bit different from a modern world.

Enter Onett. Home of the PSI kid, Ness. In the past three years, he has grown quite a bit, looking more like a teenager than a juvenile. He was almost twice as taller than before, and his body was much wider (though he's clearly not overweight), and his voice was slightly deeper and more mature, all the result of puberty. He was probably almost as tall as Fox and had pudginess like Luigi. However, some things stayed the same. He still has that innocent face and his red cap. He wore an identical shirt, it's just a bit bigger to fit his larger body. Scratch that, it's a lot bigger, fit for his new body. His baseball bat was also quite longer and heavier. If he was still a juvenile, he would not have been able to wield that bat.

"Mom!" he cried out from his bed. "I heard aliens dropping things around our house again!"

"Oh my god, Ness… They're not going to be of any harm. Don't worry about it!"

But Ness didn't listen to her as he was already rushing down the stairs, dressing up in his trademark clothing and wielding his heavy bat. "Sorry, but without dad around I have to keep watch around the house… Sorry mom!" He rushed out of the door, ignoring his pleading mother.

Another normal night outside in Onett. It was very quiet, yet eery. A normal person would normally feel like he or she would get jumped by a random robber or alien, but knows that he/she wouldn't because Onett is a peaceful town... Normally. After running out of his house, Ness walked towards his backyard to investigate what fell. He saw a group of crows surrounding something.

"Shoo! Shoo!" He waved at the crows but they did nothing. He quickly cried, "_Flash Omega_!" A green light surrounded the birds, causing them to disappear right on the spot. He approached what they surrounded and saw an extremely bloody body. The body looked alive, though barely.

"…Fox? Is that you?"


	12. Chapter 12: The Temple of Time

Hack: Woo I'm on a roll. The Hyrule arc is about to begin and trust me, it'll be a lot longer and more interesting than the Mushroom Kingdom adventures.

Here's a little Nintendo history for those of you who didn't recognize some of the new characters. Cackletta and Fawful both originated from the game Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. General Guy and the Koopa Brothers came from Paper Mario, and Geno and Mallow came from Super Mario RPG. If you don't know who Ridley and Kraid are, you have never played a Metroid game before. But Omega Pirate was from Metroid Prime. The King Zinger that Fox fought was a boss from Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, and King K. Rool is obviously DK's main villain.

Back to the story!

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Temple of Time**

Three days have passed ever since Samus told Luigi that they were approaching Hyrule. After telling the other two about the civil war, they discussed what happened and what might have caused it based on the information Samus looked up on the news.

It was still the third day that they were discussing it.

"Wait, wait, wasn't there already a civil war a long time ago in Hyrule?" Falcon asked the other three. (Samus set the ship on auto-pilot)

"Yeah, they were all greedy and wanted to obtain the power of the triforce for themselves. It was a war between the races. There were Hylians, Zoras, Gorons, and Gerudos. I looked it up," said Samus.

"Ouch… a four-way war…" Luigi commented. "There must've been millions of casualties."

"But it was a long time ago because of the seven sages sealing the triforce right?" Jigglypuff asked.

Samus, being the main source of information, answered her. "Yeah, and the power of the triforce was long forgotten. It was sealed in the Chamber of Sages. Apparently, all but one sage had went to a deep sleep and left, leaving that one to guard the triforce in case someone tries to get in. They all made three keys towards the Sacred Realm. They were the three spiritual stones, the Ocarina of Time, and the Master Sword."

"But Ganondorf wanted it…"

"Hey, we're talking about the civil war, not about Link's past adventures. We can ask him for his entire story later, but we're discussing what's happening right now."

Everyone nodded. "Dude, so there's another civil war because of the triforce?" Falcon asked.

Samus nodded. "Yes, but the reason behind the fact that the people want the triforce is different."

"Not everyone is fighting for it though, right?" Luigi asked, thinking of Link.

"No, of course not. The Royal Army, including Zelda and Link, is fighting to protect the Triforce. A couple other nations are also allies, so they are helping. The Gerudos aren't participating in this war either, which is a good thing. The Kokiris don't want to fight either, as they are not a warrior race."

"So why do they want the triforce?"

"I don't know… I know it's not because of greed, but I'm not sure…"

Jigglypuff's eyes brightened up. "Oh! When you were looking over the current conditions in Hyrule, everything was devastated. Everyone was living in poverty, almost everyone. So people want the triforce to fix it all up for themselves!"

Everyone nodded again. "That's a good assumption," said Samus. "But how would the entire world suddenly fall into poverty in one day?"

"Ganondorf?" Falcon offered an answer. "That idiot copied all of my moves and only tweaked a few changes… Man, I hate him!"

"No, it's very doubtful that it's Ganondorf. He's the king of the Gerudos, and they aren't fighting. He doesn't really care much anymore, especially since he put the triforce of power back into the Sacred Realm as Link and Zelda did with the triforce of courage and wisdom. It's definitely not Ganondorf"

"So maybe another person?"

"Definitely another person. Probably one of Link's old enemies… I'm not Link, so don't ask me who has a grudge against him."

Immediately, the entire ship shook violently, red lights flashing. "ALERT! THE SHIP IS UNDER ATTACK!" a computer stated. Samus quickly ran back into the piloting compartment and gasped.

The other smashers ran in with her. "What's wrong?" Falcon asked.

Samus pointed at something. "That," she said.

They saw millions upon millions of black ships, surrounding larger black ships. Those ships were all surrounding one large one that stood out. The words HALBERD were printed on the front. Cleary, every ship was attacking the ship. It was a wonder how all but one shot missed Samus's ship.

"Samus! What are we going to do?" Luigi cried.

"Shut up! I'm the pilot here! And we can see Hyrule right there!"

A round planet was seen just past the Halberd, obviously Hyrule.

"But if we go to Hyrule, the ships will follow us and cause even more deaths on that planet…" Jigglypuff stated.

"Yes… This is becoming a damn huge problem…"

"No worries!" someone said on the intercom.

Everyone looked up. "Fox!" they all cried.

"Um, you've got that wrong. It's Falco, yo!" Falco's face appeared on the intercom, smiling. "Our team just saw all these ships attacking your ship, and apparently Fox isn't with you guys. But still, Slippy told me you're his friends, so we'll help you out."

Falco's face disappeared and Slippy's appeared on the intercom screen. "We've been listening to every word of your conversation about the civil war! We have a way to let you guys land safely!"

On the intercom, Slippy's face was replaced with Krystal's face. "You guys just fly away for the moment, we'll lure these ships away from the planet. When we give you the ok, fly in as soon as possible and quietly!"

"Whoa… Well we appreciate the help and all, but…" Falcon started but Samus shot a missile into his face.

"Yeah, that'll definitely help. But just make sure you guys don't die!"

Falco's face appeared. "Don't worry, with the ace pilot here around nobody on our side will fall!"

Three Arwings appeared in front of the Halberd fleet, firing multiple red nova bombs on the fleet. Tiny ships blew up from the enormous explosions caused by the bombs. Immediately, the mother ship slowly flew towards the Arwings, followed by the larger ships.

"You guys, go! Now!" Falco cried. Samus didn't hesitate for a second as she grabbed the control lever and steered the ship into Hyrule as fast as possible.

"Falco! I've got some ships on my tail! Help me!" Slippy cried, fleeing from a couple ships hot on his tail.

"Falco! Save me, Falco!" Krystal cried, being in the same position as Slippy.

"Oh great, now I have to do all the saving without Fox around…" he mumbled to himself as he performed a somersault on his Arwing, allowing the enemy ships to pass underneath. He quickly fired a charged shot at the ships' backs, blowing them up. "Well that's the job of the Ace Pilot..."

* * *

_Damn… I got really murdered by Metaknight… If I can't even beat his normal form, there's no way I can possible defeat his Ren Kiu form…_

_But he wants me to grow stronger… He's such a weirdo. Doesn't he know that a lot of responsibility falls on him, being the second in command of the Ring of Darkness? Ah well. At least I still have my life… Damn it, I shouldn't have been so damn cocky… What the hell is wrong with me… I can't take on Metaknight, let alone all three at the same time… Heck, I probably would've gotten murdered by Alex if Metaknight didn't stop our fight._

_I have to grow stronger… I have to. But how? I don't know…_

_Where did I land again? Eagleland? Doesn't Ness live there? I'm not too sure… Was it Kirby? No, he lives on Pop Star. Roy? That guy's in Pherae. How about Pikachu and Pichu? Nah, Kanto…_

_I feel like I'm going crazy. It's insane. I feel so weak… I just got murdered by Metaknight. Right there. Man…_

Fox opened his eyes, heavily panting. He looked at his surroundings and saw white walls. Everywhere. He tried to sit up, but he couldn't because of two big reasons.

One: An insanely heavy blanket covered his body, weighing him down.

Two: He was strapped up in casts and band aids, making his body completely stiff. And it hurt to even try moving as well.

"Ow… shit…" he coughed as he couldn't move his body at all. He immediately felt several pairs of footsteps in the room.

"Ness! It seems like he woke up!"

"Yeah, it looks like it." Ness's face came into Fox's view. "How are you doing, Fox?" he smiled.

"What do you think, Ness?" Fox gave a weak painful smile.

"Probably not so well. I swore you were like a zombie when I found you in my backyard, because you were all so cut up and stuff…"

"Ness? Shall I put him to sleep?" Another boy asked. He looked like a ninja, almost bald and wore only white robes.

"Hm, I'm not sure, Poo… Fox's been asleep for a week. What happened anyways?"

Fox gave a frown. "I… Let's save that story for later…"

Ness nodded. How many people nodded in this chapter, let alone this fic? Whatever… "Ok, I understand. Is your chest still in pain? Your heart was almost split into two dude… If I didn't use Lifeup Gamma on your heart, you would've died. You were literally two seconds away from death…"

Poo, the white ninja, stood beside Ness. "And you were punctured in every spot of your body. Were you attacked by a swarm of bees or something?"

"More like one huge bee with a million stingers…"

Ness chuckled, though Poo kept his serious expression. "Oh yeah, I need to introduce this guy to you. Fox, meet Poo. He's one of my best friends that helped me on my journey to defeat Gigyas. Though he is a bit… serious. But he's still cool."

Fox looked at Poo, noticing that he didn't change his facial expression at all. "I see what you mean."

"I would have brought Paula and Jeff here too, but we had to get you healed up as soon as possible. They don't know any healing PSI either, so…"

"Well, thanks for fixing me up. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"No problem, Fox," Ness gave a quick wink.

"Ness, I believe that Fox will need two or three more days of rest before he can recover enough to start walking."

Fox frowned. _Two or three days? That's too much time!_ "Oh, Ness! By the way, has anything weird been happening in your world caused by anyone with a grudge against you?"

Ness looked at Fox. "Nah, not really. Only person alive that would have a grudge on me is Pokey since he was Gigyas's right-handed dude. But he's still only a teenager, so… Yeah."

Fox leaned forward a bit more and finally noticed how much Ness had matured. "Wow! You've grown up so much last time I saw you! How old are you now…?"

"Just turned fifteen last month. Been a teenager for more than two years now, so the other smashers can't complain about me being a little boy now…"

"Yeah, I bet you're about as tall as me now!"

"I'm not so sure about that…"

"Well are you sure I can't… do anything?"

"Nope, we're going to force you to rest for at least two more days. Then we'll let you do whatever you want."

Fox smirked. "Are you sure about that? I can easily just get out right now and…"

"First, your body is currently too weak. Second, I can beat you in your weakened state any time. Nobody enjoys being paralyzed anyways."

Fox thought about it for a moment and smiled. "But of course."

* * *

"This is horrible… Just horrible…" was the only thing Luigi and Jigglypuff could say as they looked down on the once beautiful Hyrule field. 

Hyrule Field was now a battlefield. It used to be an enormous grassy plain that stretched out across the world for miles, with towns and trees scattered here and there. However, there were currently fires everywhere. Dead bodies were lying everywhere, piles and piles of carcasses of Hylians, Gorons, Zoras, and many others. Weapons stained with red and green blood were scattered on the floor. The sky wasn't its usual blue daytime self; it had turned red blood to match with the war's atmosphere.

"And even worse, there's no place to land the ship…" said Luigi.

"Well we can land anywhere, we'd just be attacked at just about anywhere by any damn soldier," said Falcon.

"…We didn't need that, you know. This isn't a time for humor…"

"Shut up, fool!"

"Ohh! Ohh!" Jigglypuff cried as she pointed at a gray building. The top of it was extremely flat, and it was a pretty tall building. It was very wide, seeming like it stretched out for miles. "Nobody would check for a ship on top of that building!"

Samus sighed. "Yeah, but that's the Temple of Time…"

"We won't do anything if we go on top of it…"

"...Yeah, I guess you're right."

Samus slowly steered her ship to land on top of the enormous Temple of Time. All four smashers jumped out of the ship and off the temple. It actually seemed very…

"Peaceful… Why is it so peaceful here?" Luigi asked. "Not that I mind it, but it's kinda awkward… Especially since people are fighting just a couple miles away."

"I'll tell you why, it's because the royal army is guarding this temple with their lives," a feminine voice said from behind the smashers. All four jumped ten miles high and fell on their backs, looking at another pink-dressed princess.

"Yes, everyone is fighting for the triforce inside the Sacred Realm," said Princess Zelda Hyrule. "The entrance to the Sacred Realm lies within the Temple of Time, and the gate is currently open. We have no way to close it as of now."

"Zelda!" everyone cried. "How are you?"

"If you're the princess of the commanding army in the middle of a civil war, do you really think I'd be fine?"

Luigi shook his head. "Probably not."

"Exactly. I just came here to investigate the Temple of Time, since I felt a wrinkle in time… A gap in the End of Time."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Falcon asked.

"I don't know how to explain it… But you can follow me and see it for yourselves…"

Zelda lead the four smashers into the Temple of Time and into the sacred chamber. Luigi and Samus followed her from behind, and Falcon was in the back with Jigglypuff on his shoulder. Like the outside of the temple, the inside was all gray and white. The walls and floors were all smooth. Inside the sacred chamber lay a small, gray pedestal with a sword stuck in it, hilt sticking outward. The hilt was shining blue, and the blade itself was pure metal and steel. Everyone except Zelda were caught surprised by the amount of energy the blade released.

"This is the Master Sword?" Samus asked.

"Yes. Link placed it back into the pedestal, and it's lost over half of its power since."

_Over half! And it's still radiating so damn much that even we can feel its power!_ "So what are you showing us right now?"

"Stepping around the pedestal will give those people access to the Sacred Realm. Though I prophesized that something else might happen…"

"I'm going in!" Falcon cried, running towards the Master Sword, unable to wait for a chance to recklessly show off to the girls (only two at the moment in the temple). Suddenly, a barrier formed around the pedestal, trapping Falcon inside. And what sucks is the fact that Jigglypuff was on his shoulder, so she's trapped too.

"Whaaaat?"

"What's happening?"

Luigi and Samus ran up to the barrier, banging on it. "Zelda! What's up with this?"

Zelda let out a sigh. "I should have told you earlier not to mess around with it… I have no idea where it can lead to."

Despite Falcon's and Jigglypuff's cries, their bodies immediately disappeared with a white flash and the barrier disappeared.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Samus cried, running to the pedestal. "What the hell happened?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that too…" Luigi commented.

"There doesn't seem to be a wrinkle of time…" said Zelda. "It seemed like… The End of Time wanted them and only them to go… Maybe it was destiny…"

"Destiny my ass… Any way to get them back?" Luigi asked.

"...I understand now. Now I know what happened from my prophesies; it all makes sense now. They were just transported to another secret realm, one that affects the entire universe. This is called the End of Time. It seems like they were summoned there for some reason…"

"Summoned?"

"I don't know. Then they will be transported to another world. I don't believe that they will be in any harm, so don't worry."

"Great… we're supposed to find out who's behind this war between only the two of us…" Luigi murmured.

"Yeah… Our entire group's been separated now… Wonder what's happened to Fox…"

"There's nothing we can do… I don't know," said Zelda. "But for the mean time, come to my castle. We'll discuss more of these matters there."

"What if Falcon and Jigglypuff come back?"

"If they do, I'll know. I have prophesies that tell me…"

Luigi's eyes brightened up. "So you can tell the future?"

Zelda sadly smiled. "If you put it that way…. Maybe."

* * *

"Where the _hell_ are we?" Falcon asked Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff shrugged with her pudgy arms, indicating that she had no idea as well. 

"Whatever…" It was all dark. It was like outer space, except no stars, no ships, no planets, no nothing. It was all black. Everything was black around them.

Except for an old man that approached them.

"Hello, bounty hunter and racer Captain Falcon and pokemon Jigglypuff," he said. Before Falcon could blurt out anything, the man continued. "I've been expecting you, and so I have summoned you two. It was destiny. My name is Gaspar, the Guru of Time. And you, my friends, are in the End of Time."


	13. Chapter 13: The End of Time

Hack: Another chapter done, I'm doing these pretty fast because I've got nothing else to do. By the way, the End of Time comes from Chrono Trigger. I know that the Odyssey fic (one of my favorites, mind you) used that place, but this place just fits so right into this part of my fic. So please, please don't report me for 'plagiarizing,' because first it's NOT plagiarizing. The purpose of the End of Time is much different than that from the Odyssey fic's purposes. I just had to say this because I'm pretty sure someone will report me… One of my old fics was reported because one chapter was vaguely similar to a chapter of another fic. Figures.

Anyways... enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 13: The End of Time**

"So tell me, why the hell did you summon us?" Captain Falcon asked Gaspar.

Gaspar simply smiled. "Because I have seen your capabilities. What you can do, what you can't do, everything."

"So you must be damn sure that I'm the man!"

"Actually, you wouldn't be able to help out with Hyrule at all. Same for you, Jigglypuff. No offense, though."

"Ah, shut up…" Falcon murmured. Jigglypuff simply shrugged.

"The reason is that Luigi and Samus have both gone through transformations… Changes that have made them stronger. Their abilities are moved up by a level. You have seen Samus's change, I'm sure of that."

Falcon and Jigglypuff recalled the battle with Kraid, and remembered Samus's change in suit. "Yeah, I remember…" said Falcon. "That sexy gal really knows how to fight…"

"She became so much more powerful right there…" said Jigglypuff. "It was so sudden... I have no idea how it happened."

Gaspar nodded. "Yes, and you may not have noticed it but Luigi has undergone change in his solo fight with Cackletta as well. His abilities with lightning have enhanced, his reflexes and aerobics as well. Both of them are fully capable of dealing with the troubles in Hyrule.

However, neither of you are ready. This is why you are here. Rather than sitting back, doing nothing in Hyrule, you both will undergo training for a week in the End of Time."

"A WEEK?" both smashers exclaimed.

"We don't have a week of time!" Jigglypuff complained.

"Yes, well… I have forseen that Luigi and Samus will not be finished until the civil war ends, and it will not end for a long time… And neither of you can return to Hyrule."

"So we're completely split into three groups… Do you know about Fox?" Jigglypuff asked.

The guru nodded. "He is alive, although barely. That much I will tell you."

Falcon's eyes raged with fury. "What do you mean by barely? Tell me what happened!"

"I cannot tell you more, his destiny will unravel. I assure you that he will be alive by the next time you see him."

Captain Falcon frowned. _Be alive by the next time we see him... That seems like he'll be almost dead when we see him..._

"But we must finish business here first. The End of Time is the best place for the two of you to evolve your powers. However, the both of you will be separated from each other until the end of the week."

"What if we don't complete the training?" Jigglypuff curiously asked.

"Do not worry about that until it happens. I am confident in your abilities."

"Yeah, Jiggly! Be confident!"

"Okay…"

"The End of Time is a place of shadows. There are many shadows lurking in this infinite abyss. It is also a home for those who can travel through time at will. It is also a place that can instantly transport you to another world. I have already decided where you will go to after your training."

"Where is it?"

Gaspar shook his head. "I cannot tell you."

"What the fuck? You can't tell us anything!"

"I apologize. But training must begin as soon as possible. You have no time to waste."

"…All right. How do I start? And where does Jiggly go?"

"This is your first task. You must set out in the End of Time to find your trainer." Gaspar turned to Jigglypuff. "You must enter this door. You will meet your trainer behind it, and he will instruct you further."

Jigglypuff nodded as a door instantly appeared behind Gaspar. She walked up to it, opened it, and walked through, saying "Good luck, Falcon!" The moment she walked in, it disappeared.

Falcon was the only smasher left. "So what now for me?"

"…I see you are troubled. Very well, I will give you a hint. Your trainer is one of the shadows. She uses the same element as you. That is hint enough."

"Um… ok. Right. At least I know she's a gal."

"Now go, Captain Falcon. Complete your first task. Once you find her, she will instruct you further. But before she can, you must befriend her."

"Of course! All girls love me!"

"… Be that as you may think. Now go."

Captain Falcon sped off into a random direction, to complete his first task in the End of Time.

* * *

"Hey, Jigglypuff! I've been expecting you!" 

The moment Jigglypuff walked through the door, she saw a white furry creature, slightly larger than her. "Who are you?"

"I'm your trainer that Gaspar assigned. My name is Spekkio, and I'm a master of magic."

"…So what are you going to help me with?"

"Advanced Pokemon techniques…"

"Excuse me?"

Spekkio sighed. "Okay, let me explain it to you. In the Pokemon world, you have an enormous movepool. You can learn like half the moves out there! We're talking Mega Punch, Doubleslap, Mega Kick, Pound, Rest, Sing, Rollout, and more! Notice any similarities?"

Jigglypuff pondered for a moment. "Um… They're all physical?"

Spekkio sighed again. "Yes, that is a similarity, but that's a bit broad. Think of a more narrow similarity."

"Oh! They're all normal types!"

"And…?"

"Fighting?"

"Bingo! There you have it! No offense, but all of your abilities are just using your body. That's what Normal and Fighting moves are. Of course, you'll meet someone immune to your abilities, or one that you can't touch. One that is resistant, maybe. When you do, you are VERY screwed."

"Yes, I agree that my abilities are a bit… not so broad."

"Exactly. This is where the training comes in. You know the difference between physical and special pokemon abilities, right?"

"Yes…"

"Tell me all you know, right now."

Jigglypuff took a deep breath, as if preparing for a big speech. "In the Pokemon realm, there are seventeen types of pokemon, each wielding different abilities. And these abilities are split into seventeen groups, with an exception or two. These groups are the types, and the types have an advantage or disadvantage against certain pokemon. These seventeen types are split into two groups: physical and special. The physical types are normal, flying, fighting, rock, ground, ghost, poison, bug, and steel. The special types are fire, water, ice, grass, electric, psychic, dark, and dragon. All pokemon have two certain defensive stats, one physical and one special. A pokemon may be steel and have a strong physical defense, but it may succumb to a special attack."

"Hm… not bad. You're pretty smart, Jigglypuff. You see, there will be enemies that will be resistant to your attacks because they are all normal and fighting types. You know about the ghost type pokemon… They are literally IMMUNE to those types, so you will be screwed if you face a Gengar or Dusclops. But this is the point of this training.

You see, I will train you to learn the advanced abilities of every single type, giving you variety. You want to learn Hydro Pump? Solarbeam? Or perhaps Dragon Claw? You'll learn them. Or some of them. Ok, I lied, I'll only train you enough so you'll be capable of learning these abilities on your own. Of course, you'll learn a few in our training…"

"So I'll learn more pokemon abilities basically?"

"In a way. Like I said, after training you'll be able to find more advanced abilities in yourself. And they're not all simply powerful attacks. The deadly Swords Dance ability will definitely come in handy, but it's one of the most difficult for you to master. Same with Double Team and Agility, both extremely handy abilities. But we're not here to learn those, we're here to let you be able to learn those on your own. Get the gist?"

Jigglypuff nodded, a bit more enthusiastic about her training.

"You got it? I'm going to train you to the bone for one entire week. We don't have any extra time, so I have to pound into you as much as I can. No food. No sleep. In the End of Time, you don't need sleep. Same with food. Just straight training, no resting. Sorry, but it's the only way to squeeze in enough in one week."

"Um, ok…"

"You ready, Jigglypuff? Get ready… Here's your first task."

* * *

"Damn it, where is that damn shadow girl?" Falcon was running around, looking around. "Nope, not that guy… Not him either… That's definitely a pokemon…" 

"Hey! Who are you?" Two purple people glided up to Falcon. One of them was extremely overweight and wore a yellow hat, while the other wore a blue hat and was small and thin. They both looked like purple naked humans, except for the fact that they had no legs; their body simply stretched out into the floor. The fat one simply groaned.

"Who are you?" Falcon asked. "Are you my trainer? Because she is supposedly a shadow that knows fire."

"Hm, I suppose not, unless you're talking about Vivian… Marilyn! Do you think this brat is talking about Vivian?"

Marilyn, the fat shadow, simply groaned. "Fine, whatever…" the other shadow said. "But you might be talking about my sister. She really deserves to be punished for betraying us and siding with Mario… But she's grown too powerful for us now."

"But who are you?" Falcon repeated.

"Me? I am Beldam. I do not know who you are looking for, but…"

"Sister!" Someone cried. Another identical shadow appeared, this time with a red hat. She was taller than Beldam and was medium-weighted.

"What is it, Vivian? You bloody hell know that I don't want to see you!"

"Sorry, but I've been looking for…"

"Are you my trainer?" Falcon asked the new shadow.

"Um… Are you Captain Falcon?"

"Yes, of course I am!"

"Pfft, leave them, Marilyn… We have more important matters to attend to…" said Beldam. The two shadows sunk into the floor, nowhere to be seen.

"So how are you doing?" Vivian asked. "Gaspar told me that I have someone to teach my abilities to for one week."

"Yeah… Well he told me my task was to find you."

"And you did! Congratulations!"

Falcon winked at her. "Of course! I'm the man, anyways!"

"But we have to start getting serious now… I'm really sorry!"

Strangely, Vivian reminded Captain Falcon of a more cheerful Jigglypuff: Really nice and seemingly shy, yet so cheerful and happy. "It's ok!"

Another door immediately appeared behind Vivian. "So shall we start here?" she asked with a cute smile.

"All right!" Falcon replied as he followed her in. The door immediately disappeared, and Falcon found himself in a bright, white room.

"This is where you'll train for one week. Gaspar told me to keep training you on and on, nonstop without rest… Well in the End of Time, you don't need sleep or food, so I guess that's ok."

"Just cut to the chase. What are you going to teach me?"

"Well, I'm pretty new at teaching, but… You'll learn more advanced fire abilities and…"

"Fire! I already know how to use fire!"

"…and the ability to use the shadows."

"Wha?"

"I heard that you were a very fast man, probably the fastest in here."

"Damn straight!"

"But with the power of the shadows, you can become stealthier and even faster! And there's even more you can do with the ability to use the shadows. And, you only know how to use close-ranged fire abilities. I'm here to help you learn long range abilities. There must have been some point where you wished you had long range attacks…"

Falcon stood there, silent, as he recalled the fight with Ridley. Vivian was right, when Ridley took Samus, Falcon couldn't do anything because Ridley flew miles away out of range from him.

"So… how can I learn the power of the shadows?" Falcon asked. "I really think that's the most important."

"You already have it, you just don't know you have it. We just have to force that power out and make you learn how to bring it out."

"Okay, I get it already! So when are we starting, dude?"

"Right now."

* * *

"What do you want, Wolf?" Metaknight asked as he walked into Wolf's room in the secret base. 

"You know what I want to talk about. You dealing with Fox."

"Is that so? Well I can assure you that he is still alive and all yours if you so desire."

Wolf stood up. "If you ever pull any more bullshit like that on who I want to kill, then I am going to strangle you and fucking kill you. You understand?"

"Right, ok. I highly doubt that you'll be able to defeat your archrival."

"Shut up."

Metaknight shrugged. "I did not intend to kill him. I know his potential, and I knew about your desires to kill him. Do not worry, I will not kill him. But I highly doubt that you can defeat him."

Wolf had enough. He disappeared and quickly appeared right behind Metaknight with insane speed, dealing a swift kick and sending him into the air. Less than half a second later, Wolf appeared right next to Metaknight and kicked him to his right. Before Metaknight struck the wall, Wolf appeared right beside him again and dealt a final kick. Suddenly, Wolf fell down to the floor, holding his leg in pain.

"What the fuck did you do!" He screamed.

"As fast as you are, I can easily read all of your moves. You may be the fastest here, but I can still read you. I simply cut your leg with my sword every time you kicked me."

"Fucking… bastard…"

"Control that temper of yours, or else you might be killed by someone else. Namely Black Shadow… He never shows any mercy. No offense, but he IS more powerful than you on our tier list."

"You better remember… Fox is mine. You understand?"

Metaknight smiled. "Of course."

* * *

Hack: As a side note, Spekkio and Gaspar are from Chrono Trigger, while Vivian and her sisters are from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. 


	14. Chapter 14: The Secret Ingredient

Hack: More interesting stuff in this chapter... Have fun reading it! Oh, and you won't be seeing Captain Falcon or Jigglypuff for a long time.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Secret Ingredient  
**

Luigi, Samus, and Zelda sat at a large, elegant, royal table in an enormous chamber. One can tell that they were inside Hyrule Castle, because of the beautiful, shining stained glass on the walls and the polished wooden walls.

"You both must be exhausted, have something to eat at the moment."

"But Zelda, what about the war?" Samus asked politely.

"…It will take much effort to stop it. You will need your strength to help us out," Zelda replied.

"Okay, but what about Link?" asked Luigi, unassured.

"Link… He is…" Zelda paused, then quickly closed her eyes. She opened them again. "He is the main commander of the Royal Army."

"WHAT?" both Luigi and Samus exclaimed.

"As far as I remember, he isn't the type to go to war. Why is he the commander?" Luigi asked.

"He… I do not exactly know why. I believe it is because he wants to face the enemy commanders…"

"There isn't just ONE enemy, though, is there?"

"…There is. Our spies have found out that there is one particular force that is the cause of this entire war. They are in the background, not literally fighting."

Samus stood up. "So it's more like they are letting everyone else do the dirty work. But what could they hope to accomplish?"

Zelda shook her head. "That I do not know. I do not know who the main commander of the entire enemy force is, but from what our spies have found, I have learned the identities of their sub-commanders."

Luigi raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes. As far as we know, there are three, and they have been Link's past enemies. We were only able to identify two, though. Do you know of Veran and Onox?"

"Never heard of them."

"Me neither."

"They both somehow returned, more powerful than when Link faced them. And they are currently working under another person, but we cannot identify that person yet."

"So Link is working undercover to reveal this guy's identity?" Luigi asked.

"That is what I believe he is doing. I assume he will return in around three or four days."

Samus and Luigi sighed. "Not much we could do yet though…" said Luigi.

"Pretty ironic how Ganondorf isn't behind this," said Samus. "Is Ganondorf the top suspect?"

Zelda paused. "None of us have any idea what he is doing. However, I am sure that he is not behind the cause of the war. In fact, he is most likely in Gerudo Fortress, his old home, doing absolutely nothing about it."

"…okay that is SO not the Ganondorf we know," said Samus.

"Yeah, the old Ganondorf loved to fight with everyone, especially Link. He would definitely take a chance to join the war just to face Link. Granted, he's not Bowser where he'd put the world in danger though, but still..." Luigi added.

"Yes, there is definitely something wrong with him. But what's more important is taking out the commanders. I am sure there are more, but Veran and Onox are the only ones that our spies have confirmed."

"Do you know where they are?"

"Link should by the time he returns… As of now, our men are currently defending the Hyrule Castle City area, to defend the Temple of Time from the attackers. My father is still the king, so everything should be fine if I leave the castle."

"But shouldn't you be helping your dad?" Luigi asked.

"It's really okay. He's a reliable leader. But we have things to attend to. I must thank you for mentioning Ganondorf, as an idea has just appeared."

"Hm?"

Zelda stood up. "Tomorrow, at the break of dawn, the moment Din's eye rises from the horizon, we leave the castle. We must head northwest to Gerudo Valley and look for Ganondorf."

"But you just said he wasn't involved with this war…" said Luigi.

"He isn't. But he has been affiliated with Veran and Onox before, even worked with them, and we can use him to deduce where they are."

"_Use?_" Samus said angrily.

"Uh… Samus?" Luigi prodded Samus on the side of her helmet.

"Er, sorry. My bad."

"…Right."

"Luigi, Samus, I need your help with this. From Hyrule Castle City, it will take a three-day ride to enter the Gerudo Valley. Undoubtedly, we will encounter some enemies. It will definitely be a long journey, so it is vital for the two of you to rest as much as you can."

"I wouldn't want to rest since we already had some, but Zelda's going with us so I guess we should use the night," said Luigi. Samus simply nodded.

"I apologize, but all of our guest bedrooms are used by the soldiers. I must ask you to…"

Samus interrupted her. "It's okay, the both of us can sleep in my ship. It's really a pleasure for you to create convenient space for it behind the castle."

Zelda nodded. "Okay. It's starting to get dark; we must get as much rest as possible. I will tend to the injured soldiers. Both of you get as much rest as possible for the long journey ahead."

* * *

"Fox… I have bad news," said Ness as he approached Fox in the bed. 

"What?" he asked.

"Tomorrow, you will be able to walk. But that's the most you can do. That one big wound you got… You won't be able to do any strenuous activities for at least three months. Or the ordinary person wouldn't be able to…"

"I'm not ordinary. I'm a fox, and I can heal fast. So I can go to another world to help out the others tomorrow."

"Yes, well… Your reactions aren't up to date," said Ness.

"So? You're world's peaceful, what does that matter?"

"Because you're a fox, and the world is a human world."

"Oh. Right."

"So if you're seen in public, then hunters would undoubtedly attack you. A talking fox would definitely make big money. That's why I had to hide you in the basement."

"But what about your parents?"

"Pfft, they know I'm a smasher, so they know about the other worlds. They don't mind you being a fox."

"Okay… I get what you're saying. But how would you know that my reactions aren't up to date?" Fox asked.

Suddenly, Ness threw an apple at Fox's head. Fox quickly caught it… If he was in full condition, he would. Unfortunately, he wasn't, and the apple struck him on his head.

"Ow…" he groaned.

"There, your reactions aren't fast enough yet. That huge gash isn't a standard wound, you know…"

"How? It's just a slash from a humongous sword."

"And probably a special one. You see, your lung was punctured and your heart and kidneys were almost cut in half. It somehow affected your entire body. Or it would if I didn't reach you fast enough."

"Argh… That Metaknight is a lot more trouble that I thought…"

"Is he the guy that almost killed you?"

"Yeah, because of my recklessness… I just rushed in on some of the top Ring of Darkness members (Fox already told Ness the entire story)… Wolf, Alex, and Metaknight. Heck, Alex would probably have killed me right on the spot if Metaknight didn't stop him…"

Fox quickly leaned forward in a sitting position, though a bit painfully. "Do you have a computer here?" he asked.

Ness, taken aback by his sudden request, answered, "Yeah, I have a labtop right here, with wireless internet…"

Ness set a laptop on Fox's lap, and Fox quickly signed himself on the Internet. Fast clicking noises from the keyboard was heard as Fox opened his e-mail account and opened the document he found in King K. Rool's computer.

"Oh, this is that document?" Ness asked.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe who's on the sixth on the list…"

Ness took a look and shook his head. "Man, one of us… I can't believe it. But if someone was a traitor, he'd probably be a top suspect."

"I kinda agree with your logic... Anyone that's a smasher would after they know how he acts. But I need to read the rest of this report."

Ness quickly closed the laptop. "No. Your eyes need rest."

"Why? They got affected somehow too?"

Ness nodded. "That big wound of yours also affected your eyes. If you read even a little bit, they'll explode. Just like that."

Fox lied back down on the bed. "Wow… That's really gay…"

"I can read it for you, and tell you the general details. It looks like a really long report though, so it'll take another day for me to wrap up a summary for you."

"Okay, thanks." Ness left the room, leaving Fox to himself. "What a mess I got myself in…"

Nothing else major happened in the rest of Fox's day. The only highlights were meeting two more of Ness's friends, Paula and Jeff.

"Jeff! If you use that, you might kill him!"

"…don't worry, it'll work."

"Please, just listen to me! My god, you're so stubborn…"

"…"

Two teenagers walked into the room, one a blond girl with a pink dress, and the other a blond boy with wide glasses and a green suit. He held a strange injector of some kind with a sharp needle and blue liquid in it.

"Hey! What's going on?" Fox asked from his bed.

"Jeff is being an idiot and…" Paula replied but she was interrupted.

"Here…" Jeff said, injecting the needle into Fox's arm without warning.

"Hey! What are you..." Fox started, but he suddenly stopped. It stung a little for Fox, but afterwards it felt really… strange.

"There, feel any better?" Jeff asked. "Your chest should feel relaxed now, and it should fix your heart and lungs in a couple hours. It'll feel strange…"

Paula sighed. "Geez, you always take so many chances… Well, at least it helped…"

"Paula, I did extensive research on this mixture I used. I'm sure it'll help this fox."

Without saying anything else to Fox, the two left the room, still arguing.

"…Okay, that was strange. Or, I feel strange right now… It feels more like a pain reliever…" Fox said to himself. He suddenly started to groan and fell to a deep sleep.

* * *

"Fox, it's been three days. I think your body's ready to leave now," said Ness. 

"What? You said that it'd take three or four months for my body to fully recover!" Fox replied.

"Thanks to Jeff's research, your internal organs were able to fully recover in two days. But after some research and observation, it seems that your large wound will remain as an enormous scar."

"Well, scars aren't that bad. It'll still recover, right?"

"…We don't know. Chances are, you won't be able to move as fast as you were able to before. Yes, you can still fight. In fact, you can probably fight pretty well right now. But you might not be able to fight as well as before. You'll have to wait at least a month to figure that out."

"Hm. Well leave it to luck."

"What?"

"Leave it to luck. I'm a pretty lucky guy. When I played poker with Falco and the rest of the team, I totally murdered everyone. Falco, being cockier than me, always bluffed and tried to aim higher than me. But I always got four of a kinds or royal straights… Pretty lucky!"

"Heh… Well tonight we plan on sneaking you out to Dr. Andonuts. Jeff's dad, you know, his family is a family of nerds… Good thing too, though. Dr. Andonuts and Jeff will definitely figure out a way for you to go to another world where you can continue your quest."

"Great, I can definitely go to Mushroom Kingdom, but they probably finished their part in there…"

Ness frowned. "It's difficult enough for Dr. Andonuts to get you out of this world. I really doubt that Dr. Andonuts can send you to the world you want. It's going to be random…"

"Great… Well it's ok. I'll leave it to luck again. Give my thanks to them."

"Sure, no problem."

"Is Jeff going with us? He seems like an interesting guy," asked Fox.

"The entire party is going. I don't know how I would've survived without them… Me, Paula, Jeff, and Poo are going to go with you. No doubt Dr. Andonuts will need an extra ingredient that we'll have to fetch for him."

"Okay. Oh yeah, have you looked over the report?"

Ness suddenly fell over his chair and on the ground. He quickly got back up. "Um… You won't believe what's on it… It's horrible…"

"How is it horrible?"

Ness's frown widened. "I think you should read it for yourself… Your eyes are healed enough."

After a few hours of silently reading the report with Ness beside him, Fox's eyes widened. "Holy shit…"

Ness nodded. "Horrible, right?"

"…Yeah. When we were creating the power source for our mansion, three smashers added the secret ingredient… Too bad it doesn't say who they are."

"But the secret ingredient itself is… Just… I can't say the words."

"Gruesome?"

"Nah… Well we should take our minds off of this for the time being. It's time for us to leave."

Fox nodded. He quickly jumped out of his bed. It felt awkward to be standing after lying in bed for almost two weeks. His legs trembled in pain as it struggled to carry his light weight. _Oh well, I have to get used to walking now…_

Ness read his mind (not literally, although he could!). "Yeah, it'll be a pain in the ass to walk after lying in bed for a long time. But your legs should get used to it in an hour of walking or two."

"Ha… Thanks."

Ness lead Fox out of the basement into the backyard in the dark evening. The three other teenagers were out there, waiting.

"Took you long enough, Ness!" Paula complained.

"…Welcome back," was the only thing Jeff could say.

"It seems that we should use Teleport Beta as soon as possible," Poo stated.

"Okay, Fox, hold my hand," Ness said. Fox grabbed Ness's left hand as the four teenagers stood in a line. "Don't let go, who knows what will happen?"

Fox gulped. He remembered what happened when he trusted Diddy Kong to shoot him out of the cannon, and he didn't know if he could trust Ness. "What are you going to do?" He asked.

"I'm going to use Teleport Beta, which will teleport us into Winters. It'll feel really weird and dizzy for you because it's your first time experiencing it. Just don't let go, or else you'll get screwed," Ness said. "You don't want to know what'll happen if you do."

Fox nodded. Ness closed his eyes as he whispered, "_Teleport Beta…_" The four teenagers suddenly formed a small circle and rotated around the floor, as if they were on ice. In fact, they were spinning so fast that Fox felt like he was going to throw up.

Suddenly, they were in a snowy area. Fox fell on the ground, throwing up what little he had in his stomach. Ness chuckled. "Sorry about that, but I did warn you," he said. "Poo?"

Poo nodded as he chanted, "_Healing Gamma…_" A white light surrounded Fox and his dizziness disappeared.

"Thanks…" he said.

Ness smiled. "Let's go, then!" he said. "Dr. Andonut's lab is a couple hour walk south, so don't lag behind!"


	15. Chapter 15: Wussy Zelda Bosses

Hack: Short chapter, not much happening... Just there to keep the story going. The next chapter will be much bigger, I guarantee you!

* * *

**Chapter 15: Wussy Zelda Bosses  
**

"Why can't we just use my ship? It'll be much faster than just riding to Gerudo fortress on horseback," Samus complained.

"We can't fly, because that will simply warn our enemies of our approach," Zelda calmly answered. "You really took a risk simply landing your ship on this world. Luckily, my prophecies told me they didn't spot you."

Samus simply shrugged. The three smashers have been traveling on horseback across Hyrule field for one day. Two more days left…

Suddenly, an arrow flew past Luigi's nose. Luigi swerved around, still on a horse, and shot a fireball and a bolt of lightning at his attacker, who was another Hylian archer. Samus turned to her left and shot a plasma beam shot at another hiding pursuer in the bushes, who cried in pain as he ran around, his ass on fire.

"Fifth time today… And it's only almost noon," Luigi said.

Samus answered with an "I concur."

"I am sure that we'll face at least one major enemy on our journey, so keep your guards up," Zelda advised. She took out a map of the Hyrule field, which was enormous. "We'll be approaching some forests in a couple minutes, a perfect opportunity for pursuers to attack."

"Right," Luigi and Samus said. Soon enough, their horses entered a wide forest with no path. The smashers had to slowly swerve in and out through millions upon millions of trees and bushes.

"This is really boring…"

"Shut the hell up, Luigi. I'm as bored as you."

"Quiet! People will hear us!" Zelda angrily whispered. Samus quickly shut up, but Luigi still said something.

"A bit too late, maybe?" he said. Then he pointed up. Zelda and Samus looked up to see an enormous jungle-like man with a green mask and an enormous sword and an enormous shield. He was so huge that his size easily dwarfed the already huge trees around them.

* * *

Ganondorf sat in his desert throne room, surrounded by beautiful Gerudo women. For those of you who don't know, all Gerudo are women save for one who is born every millennium. That newborn child is a man that supposedly rules over the Gerudo. 

Long before, Ganondorf was hated for being such a terrible ruler. However, after becoming a smasher, he became a changed man, much like Bowser. Afterwards, he gave his part of the triforce back into the Sacred Realm as Link and Zelda did. Without his power, he soon become much loved, though his lust for fighting Link never disappeared.

Until this period of time.

Ever since the beginning of the new civil war, Ganondorf simply slacked off. Strangely, he never commanded the Gerudos to fight. He commanded them to stick pack and guard the posts. But that is definitely not the Ganondorf we know.

He wasn't just sitting in his throne room. He was sobbing. Silently, but tears still gushed out of his eyes.

"…I don't deserve to fucking live… It's all my fault…"

* * *

"Who the hell is this guy?" Samus asked as she jumped back to avoid a horizontal slash. 

"I think that's… Odolwa. Young Link faced him long ago in Termina on a different quest. Granted, he says that Odolwa was a stupid boss and easy to beat."

"Well he doesn't seem easy now, seems like he got more powerful!" Luigi commented.

"…Yes, well we must defeat him to progress further."

The giant, now known as Odolwa (from Majora's Mask), hacked and slashed at the smashers, constantly cutting down trees miles away. "So how do we beat him?" Samus asked.

"His shield is very strong, so you must stun him with a fast projectile."

Samus quickly shot a plasma beam shot at the giant. Odolwa swiftly blocked it with his shield, which didn't even set on fire! "Yeah, I see what you mean…"

Odolwa quickly cried in pain as electricity crashed on his back. Luigi smiled at his well-aimed thunderbolt from atop a tree. "Nah, must still be pretty easy."

Odolwa whirled around and attempted to cut Luigi with a vertical slash. Luigi swiftly jumped off of the tree and on top of Odolwa's head. The giant threw his shield up above his face in an attempt to strike the nimble Luigi, but Luigi simply jumped again. Samus shot a silently charged plasma beam shot that finally connected, setting Odolwa on fire. Zelda placed her hands together, whispering "_Nayru's Love_!" A blue barrier surrounded Odolwa, preventing anything to go in or out.

"What the… What are you doing, Zelda?" Luigi asked.

"If this barrier holds, then the heat will rise and Odolwa will eventually burn to death," Zelda calmly explained.

_Oh. Right. Containing fire hurts a lot._ Luigi looked at the burning Odolwa, as the fires spread on his body. Eventually, he dropped his sword and shield, closed its invisible eyes, then fell to the ground in ashes.

Samus shrugged. "Well that was no problem. We didn't have to break a sweat," she said.

"Like I said, Young Link found him really easy to beat. Let's move on," Zelda said. The three mounted their horses again and progressed through the now cut-down forest. After a few minutes, the trees in front of them were suddenly set on fire.

"Holy shit!" Luigi and Samus exclaimed as another tree was suddenly frozen on the spot.

"The Twinrova sisters… Come out, Twinrova!" Zelda cried out.

"Hehehe, you must be smart to figure out our identities, eh?" a witch called out. Two small hags flying on small brooms came flying into view, one blue and one red.

"We've been ordered to exterminate all trespassers… These are them, right sister?" The red one said.

"Yes, indeed! Let's go!"

The red sister quickly shot an enormous fireball at Zelda, who blocked it with Nayru's love. The blue sister attacked Samus with a beam of ice. Samus wavedashed backwards to narrowly avoid the beam, and she swiftly shot a super missile at the witch. However, the witch didn't flinch one bit!

"You cannot hurt us!" the witch cried.

"Geez, I have a feeling I'm going to face a lot of witches…" Luigi moaned. "First Cackletta, now these…" He was right, as he will be facing a witch again very soon.

"You have to hit them with their own powers," Zelda explained. "As in, the blue sister has to be struck by the fires of the red sister, and…"

The blue sister screamed in agony as she was set on fire. Coincidentally, Luigi shot a charged fireball at that hag. He turned around to Zelda. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" he asked.

"…Or that works too," Zelda commented.

Before the red sister could retaliate, Samus shot a blast of ice, another ice spreader attack. The shot struck her cleanly, becoming encased in ice.

"Pfft, I'm so jealous of Link… His bosses are so darn easy to beat," Samus said.

"It's not over… Look!"

The two sisters quickly recovered from their blows and realized that the smashers were more than they could handle in their current form.

"We must merge, sister!"

"Yes indeed!"

The hags quickly flew into each other, enormous sparks of fire and ice blasting everywhere. After the lights cleared away, what appeared before the smashers was a much larger hovering woman, one side red and one side blue.

"You can't possibly think you can defeat us!" the woman said. "You cannot defeat Twinrova!"

"This is so damn clichéd… They say the same thing every time…" Samus sighed. "Ready, Luigi?"

Luigi smiled. "Ready when you are."

In sync, Samus shot another Ice spreader blast while Luigi released an enormous beam of fire that struck Twinrova at the same time. The blast was so powerful, that Twinrova exploded into bits before able to cry out in pain, nowhere to be seen again.

"Man, that was a good warm up…" Samus said.

"I guess…"

"Okay, we should take a rest over there," Zelda pointed out the edge of the lake in the end of the forest, a convenient place where they could rest. "Probably half an hour should do?"

Luigi and Samus nodded. All three smashers were about to sit when there was a roar. An enormous violet-scaled fish jumped out of the lake, wearing a violet mask.

"Gyorg… another enemy from Termina," said Zelda.

Luigi placed his hand in the pond and released millions of volts of electricity. Gyorg roared in pain as he became electrocuted, since water conducts electricity. After Luigi was finished, Gyorg was nothing but fried fish.

"That was really fast! Nice going!" said Samus.

"It's not over yet… look!"

A gel-like substance came out of the water with a pink core in it, with the shape of a tentacle. Several gel-like tentacles came out, attempting to reach for the smashers.

"Man, this is going to be a long day…" Luigi commented with a frown."And I thought we were going to have roasted fish soon..."

* * *

"There! We've reached Dr. Andonuts without any troubles! Good news!" Ness happily cried as the group of five arrived at an enormous gray mechanical lab. 

"This is his lab?" Fox asked. "Sure looks complicated…"

Jeff walked up to the front door of the lab and pressed a doorbell. "Dad, it's me," he yelled.

The metal door immediately opened to reveal a man in a white suit. He obviously looked a lot like a professor.

"Ah! Jeff! I've been expecting you and your friends!" He looked up at Fox, who stood out because he was the only one with fur and he was much taller than everyone else. "And you must be the one that Ness asked me to create it for! Your name is…"

"His name's Fox," Ness said.

"Ah, yes! Fox, Ness has explained to you about the reason you're here, right?"

"Yes, doctor," Fox replied.

"Well then, I am creating a one-time use teleportation device out of the scraps of the used phase distorter. There really is one problem though… I need a fossil. Not just any fossil, but the fossils found in the Lost Underworld."

"The Lost Underworld? I thought that place became sealed off!" Paula exclaimed.

"No, my girl, it has become unsealed. Somebody has breached the barrier and entered it. Anyways, you must go to the Lost Underworld near Tenda Village and search for that fossil. The chemicals within this fossil is the energy that I need to fuel this teleportation device."

"Is it really rare? Sorry, but I'm really short on time…" Fox said.

"Well I have a machine that can turn a dinosaur into a fossil… You'll have to defeat a Chomposaur, and there aren't very many…"

Dr. Andonuts took out a ray gun from his pockets and placed it in Jeff's hands. "Jeff, I assume you can figure out how to use this right?"

Jeff nodded. "Don't worry, I can use it correctly."

"Great! Now take that, find a Chomposaur, defeat it, change it into a fossil, and bring it back! It should be no trouble at all for the heroes of Eagleland!"

"All right, let's go!" Ness cried. "Teleport Beta?"

Poo nodded. "I'll use it this time."

Fox, knowing what's coming, grabbed Ness's hand again as the four teens gathered in a line, gritting his teeth. Poo cried, "_Teleport Beta_" as they teleported to Tenda Village.

The moment they arrived in Tenda Village, Fox barely held in his vomit from the spinning. Ness quickly used a Healing spell to cure him of his dizziness.

"Thanks, I owe you one," Fox managed with a smile.

"Nah, it's nothing. Tenda Village is through that cavern right there. Inside, we should find a hole that'll lead us down to the Lost Underworld," Ness explained. "Think your body could handle a bit of fighting when we get down there?"

"Of course. Who's the one that beat you in every single smash tournament? Where is the four-time smash tournament champion?"

"You always have to bring that up…"

Poo stood up. "I believe we should go to the Lost Underworld now, as Fox is running short on time."

"Right, right, let's go!"

* * *

"These guys are just a piece of cake…" Luigi said after roasting Morphia, the gel thingy, with one shock attack. "It's amazing how well I can murder water-based enemies so easily…" Little did Luigi know, he's going to find it VERY hard to defeat a certain water-user… (wink wink) 

"I think we've just finished our warm up," Samus commented.

Zelda smiled. "And I believe we have finished our rest since we must move on to Gerudo Fortress."

"No problem, we're persistent smashers."

"Heh…"

The rest of their day traveling went uneventful, nothing major happening. And the next day will move on uneventful. However, the day afterwards will be the biggest day yet that Luigi and Samus will have, especially in Hyrule.

* * *

Hack: Morphia and Twinrova are bosses from Ocarina of Time, and Odolwa and Gyorg are bosses from Majora's Mask. And what's up with Ganondorf? We don't know... (except me! HA!) until soon! 


	16. Chapter 16: A Meeting with Ganondorf

Hack: Not much else, just some stuff revealed, and we see Ganondorf! Yay! Too bad he won't be doing much… Same with Zelda. Won't be updating for a long time for some reasons… Eh well.

* * *

**Chapter 16: A Meeting with Ganondorf  
**

Two days of journeying passed uneventfully for Samus, Luigi, and Zelda, except for quite a few assaults from more wussy Zelda bosses. Clearly, they were almost at Gerudo Valley, as Zelda pointed out.

"The desert-like atmosphere and the sand are proof that we're nearing the desert, where the Gerudo Valley lies. We should arrive in an hour or two," Zelda explained.

"Finally… I'm dying in this heat…" said Luigi.

"You sure aren't fiery for a fire-using guy," said Samus.

"Shut up, at least I don't need air-conditioning in what I wear!"

"...So?…"

The next two hours also went dull. Nothing much happened. Until they reached a wooden bridge that reached out across a mile gap.

"This is it, the moment we cross this bridge, we will be at our destination!" said Zelda, calmly pointing at the bridge just feet away.

"What are we waiting for?" Luigi asked. "Let's go!"

Luigi's horse walked across the bridge, followed by Zelda and then Samus. After turning around the corner of a cliff, it was clear that they were at their destination.

They were finally at Gerudo Fortress.

The fortress was composed of sandy-rocks stacked together to form separate buildings. Each of these buildings has several floors. The red-haired Gerudo guards around the fortress carried scythes and daggers outside of the fortress, making sure nobody intrudes. They were also wearing nothing but a red bra and a wide skirt, which would explain their tanned skin under the blazing sun. Rather than using wooden doors, the Gerudos simply used empty passages.

"Halt! Who goes there?" One ran up to the three smashers, wielding her weapon. Luigi and Samus quickly moved into fighting stance.

"Do not worry. It is I, Princess Zelda," Zelda calmly replied. The Gerudo guard gasped.

"Oh, Princess Zelda! Sorry for that... precautions, you know! Welcome to Gerudo Fortress! What brings you over here with those two men?" the Gerudo pointed at Luigi and Samus, giving a strange look at Samus.

"Ha, she called you a guy," Luigi whispered. He received a painful metal jab in his rib.

"I have escorted these two visitors to Gerudo Fortress, and with them I believe we can put an end to this civil war. However, we must talk with your king, Ganondorf. Where is he?"

"Ah… our King… He has just started a meeting with two officials. I am sorry, but we cannot disrupt his meeting."

"Hm, is that so? Okay. Thank you."

"You may rest in the guest's bedroom. We will alert you one Ganondorf is done."

Luigi raised his hand. "How long do you think it'll take him to finish his meeting?" he asked.

"We don't know, handsome," the Gerudo replied with a wink. She pointed at one of the many doors of the Fortress. "To get to the guest's bedroom, walk through that door and take the stairs directly to your right. Walk up two floors, and you'll be in the guest's bedroom. We'd definitely offer that handsome mustached Luigi our best..."

"Thank you," Zelda interrupted. The Gerudo frowned as she walked away. The moment the Gerudo was out of earshot, Zelda said, "Sorry Luigi, but the Gerudo are total flirts with men. You should understand how deprived they are with only women except for Ganondorf, and Ganondorf most certainly isn't a hundred men..."

"Heh… I understand. They can't be worse than Captain Falcon…"

"Agreed."

* * *

"What the hell do you want?" Ganondorf asked after commanding the Gerudo in the room to leave silently. 

"You bloody hell know what we want," an enormous man replied. He was completely covered in gold pointed armor, save for the pointed helmet that had tiny holes for his eyes. His body was extremely wide, completely dwarving his large head in size and mass. In his right hand he carried a chain connected with an enormous mace.

"Our commander wants your secrets," a blue-skinned witch added. She wore a blue and violet cloak around her arms and her waist. Her front body was completely naked above her waist, save for her breasts, which were covered with a part of her cloak.

"…What secrets?"

"The secrets to that confined information!"

"You must hand over your research so we can give it to our commander."

Ganondorf stood up from his desert-like throne. "I'm afraid that's impossible. You see, I have burned those papers."

"You burned them? You can't have… You're lying!"

"But I'm not. Search everywhere in this room, Veran, and you'll never find them. You can search every inch of the entire planet, but you'll never find them."

Veran, the witch, looked up to the armored man. "What do we do now?"

"I figured this would happen. We must call our master here," said Onox.

"Don't worry, I heard everything," a mysterious voice called out.

A small boy appeared between Onox and Veran. He was purple skinned and wore black clothing over himself.

"Master! Should we kill Ganondorf?" Onox asked. "If so, you needn't bother, we're enough to deal with him."

The boy raised his hand. "Nah, we need to squeeze out as much information from him as possible."

Ganondorf glared at the boy. "Vaati… What do you want with the Endowment of Exigency? You have your fucking power, and you're putting it to good use. What do you want now?"

Vaati smiled. "Obviously the background information on your research of it. I know what you've done. Your 'smashing' friend told us about your operations."

"…I don't know what you're talking about."

"By the name of Din, I'm talking about the damn formation of the Endowment of Exigency! How you made it! I **know** you were one of the smashers that helped create it in the Smash Mansion. We **have** one of your friends on our side, and that smasher has been really useful giving us inside info on you guys."

"…" Ganondorf made no comment.

"You see, we want how you built it. Even our inside friend doesn't know everything, as he only contributed to one third of the creation of it. We need your information."

"Fuck no," Ganondorf blurted out. "Do you want my research just to create more? Haven't you killed enough? Your inside friend's ingredient already killed millions of innocent lives, even if they are weak! Two planets have already been…"

"Of course we want more. We need more power."

"…selfish bastards. I'm never going to tell you my part on it."

"Fine. Then I suppose the destruction of Hyrule and its precious Triforce might change your mind?"

"No. I know you wouldn't do that. You want this land, and I'm sure of that, especially because of the Triforce. There's a reason why you've started this war after all."

Ganondorf wasn't as foolish as Vaati thought he was.

"Hmph, smart Gerudo. How about we destroy the land of Pherae? Will that change your mind?"

"Won't Nergal be angry? I've been affiliated with the Ring of Darkness, I know your fucking plans."

"Pfft, who gives a shit about Nergal. He's not putting his powers to good use at all. We would've killed him a long time ago if he wasn't useful for something."

"…" Ganondorf stared at Vaati with his red eyes like he was insane.

"With one push of a button, I can easily command the Halberd's fleet to destroy Pherae," said Vaati. "Choose one: The information, or the destruction of Pherae."

"…Fine. I'll send it to you."

"Thank you very much!"

Ganondorf walked into a back room and took out a laptop. He signed on the universal internet and signed on an e-mail account to e-mail his info to Vaati.

"There, it's sent. You done now?"

"Thank you," Vaati said as Ganondorf walked back in.

"So what the fuck do you want now? You've got your information, now get the hell out if you have no other business!"

"The Triforce… Its power is far limited compared with the Endowment of Exigency."

Ganondorf angrily growled, "Just get the hell out."

"Give me the keys to the Sacred Realm, then I will."

Ganondorf quickly ran up to Vaati and swung his arm out with a Gerudo Punch (side-B attack). Vaati swiftly dodged to the side.

"Hmph, I don't really have any time for this. You two, kill that Gerudo," Vaati commanded. "I have better things to do than this." Vaati took out a remote control and pressed a button, transporting him instantly out of Hyrule and to who knows where.

"Pah… fucking coward…" Ganondorf muttered under his breath.

Onox and Veran approached the Gerudo. "You are no match for our master, and you will not be of any match to us!" Veran cried.

"Without your Triforce of Power, you are nothing!"

"Oh yeah? Bring it on."

Onox swung his chained mace at Ganondorf, who rolled to the side to avoid it. The entire fortress shook violently as debris began to fall.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Luigi cried inside the guest's room. 

"I don't know, it looks like Ganondorf has some trouble going on!" Samus replied.

"Okay, let's go."

The trio ran out of the fortress and an obvious fact suddenly hit them.

"Where's Ganondorf's room, Zelda?" Samus asked.

"Um… I don't know. I've never explored..."

"Great…" Luigi interrupted. Suddenly, a spiked mace flew out of a wall three stories above them, then it retracted back into the room.

"Well it's pretty obvious where it is now!"

* * *

"You need to train more, the two of you are far too predictable," said Ganondorf. 

"Oh yeah? Look at you, you're already tired five minutes in!" said Onox. "Neither of us have a scratch, yet you're already injured!"

"Ganondorf! Something wrong?" Samus called out, the three smashers suddenly barging into the large room uninvited. Ganondorf looked at them in surprise, immediately recognizing the three smashers but wondering what in the world they're here for.

"What the hell are _you_ guys doing here? Whatever, help me get rid of these bastards!"

"Who are you? Are you those smashers that our Master warned us of?" Onox asked.

"Maybe so, if you tell us who you are!" Luigi yelled back.

"The armored man is Onox, and the witch is Veran! If we take them out now, we'll have a huge advantage!" said Zelda.

"Ah, Zelda's with you… This should be interesting with the princess!" said Veran. She opened her palms out and shot multiple energy orbs at Zelda, who blocked them with Nayru's love.

"Why isn't Link with you? I'm itching for a rematch…" Onox grumbled.

"For your information, he's not here! It should be pretty obvious!" said Samus.

"Pah!" Onox whirled his mace around and threw it at Samus, who dodged it by rolling to the side.

"Watch out! Rocks are falling!" Zelda cried. Onox and Veran quickly parted to avoid an enormous rock. However, Onox's jumping caused even more rocks to fall!

"Holy shit! Get out of the way, Zelda!" Luigi called out as he jumped to shove Zelda out of a rock's path.

"Ganondorf! What the hell are you doing?" Samus cried as she spotted a rock about to fall on him.

"Ugh… I can't stand…" he muttered.

Samus swiftly swung out her grappling beam and reeled in Ganondorf, dragging him across the ground quickly and narrowly avoiding another large rock.

The rocks finally stopped falling. It was quiet. "All right, where's Luigi?" said Samus.

"Samus! Where are you?" Luigi called.

"Are you behind these rocks?"

"…Yeah, apparently these rocks separated us. And apparently it'll take us a long time to get rid of them. How's Ganondorf?"

"Not so good. He's unconscious…"

"Same with Zelda. I think she got a heart attack or something… Shit!"

Luigi whirled around to face Veran by himself. "Veran!"

"So we face each other one on one… this should be interesting!"

Luigi sighed. _How ironic… I'm facing another witch…_

Samus turned around to meet with Onox, eye to eye. "What the…"

"You've got a lot of things going for you, punk! You're going to die for this!"

You see, Samus and Onox are separated from Luigi and Veran by an enormous wall of rocks that reached up to the ceiling.

"So it's me against you… I won't hesitate to kill you," said Samus.

"Pah… Same here. I won't be so easy though!"

* * *

Fox looked around his surroundings. "So this is the Lost Underworld?" he asked. "Looks a bit like a prehistoric area to me…" 

Ness sighed. "Well if you expect to find a dinosaur here, it's obviously going to be prehistoric…"

"Come on, Ness! We have to look around for the Chomposaur!" cried Paula.

"Right. What does a Chomposaur look like again?"

"A large purple dinosaur, the only one in this area," Poo explained.

"Ah… right. Fox, look for a purple dinosaur,"

"Okay… Shouldn't be too hard if it's so big."

The group of five walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. There were no dinosaurs to be seen for miles.

After an hour of walking around, Fox sighed. "Is this all you do in RPGs? Just walk around?"

"There's normally a lot more monsters, but with Gigyas's influence gone, there's only a few left."

"Ah. Okay."

"There! I see one!" Paula cried, pointing to their left. What seemed to be near the horizon was a purple dinosaur, undoubtedly a Chomposaur. However, it was so far away that it looked tiny from their point of view.

"Jeff! Can you get that guy's attention?"

"…Okay."

Jeff took out a small gun and aimed it at the dinosaur miles away. He accurately shot a beam at it, lightly damaging it. The Chomposaur roared in pain as it look in the direction of the beam, spotting Jeff. It stomped towards the group of five, very fast for its size.

"Holy shit… That thing's huge!"

Indeed it was. Fox was only as tall as the top of the dinosaur's toe.

"Ha… They seem to have gotten larger… Let's go, everyone!" called Ness.

* * *

Hack: So what do you think of the entire story so far? Review and let me know!  



	17. Chapter 17: Veran and Onox

Hack: Been out for three weeks, so I haven't updated for a loooooooooooong time. Yeah. Enjoy this action-packed chapter! It's my longest yet!

* * *

**Chapter 17: Veran and Onox**

Veran jumped back, throwing various dark energy orbs at Luigi. Luigi shot his own electric balls to block the attack, and then he swiftly charged towards the witch. He quickly shot various fireballs around Veran, preventing her from moving from her position. Luigi jumped up to deliver a fierce karate chop at Veran, who is unable to dodge because of the fireballs.

…or _should_ be unable to dodge. Veran leaned far back with her flexible body, bending her body at a ninety degree angle and almost banging her head on the wall. The karate chop flew over her head, narrowly missing. She quickly brought her leg up to kick Luigi in the chin, lifting her body up with her arms. Caught by surprise, Luigi could only grunt as he was sent flying into the ceiling. Luigi flipped in the air, upside down, and reduced the impact on the ceiling by "standing" on it with his feet. He quickly sprung off like a flying missile, charging a green missile attack at Veran. He released his Green Missile attack, aimed at Veran's face.

Veran quickly spread her legs out, into a full split, causing her head to lower its altitude. Luigi's body flew over her head, narrowly missing her again! Luigi merely smiled.

Expecting this maneuver, Luigi landed on the wall with his legs and kicked off of the wall into an elegant wall jump, finding himself directly above the crouching Veran's stomach. He brought his legs down and used a fierce drill kick on her stomach, causing her to fall to the ground, grunting. Luigi kicked off of her body again and prepared a powerful butt stomp attack.

Veran swiftly rolled to the side and jumped back on her feet, watching Luigi crash on the floor. She shot more dark energy orbs at the vulnerable plumber, pelting him with darkness. Luigi cried in pain as he felt the orbs pierce through his entire body.

"Ugh… You're not that bad… Really flexible body…" he said.

"Hmph, I should say the same to you!"

"But this attack should finish you! _Bolting_!" he cried. From the spot on the ceiling that he kicked off of was a yellow electric circle. Immediately, a bolt of lightning fell from that spot and zapped Veran right on the spot. When the electricity disappeared, her body was smoking.

"Ow… You little brat…" she cursed. "Well unfortunately for you, I've got a trick up my sleeve!"

"Huh?"

Veran suddenly disappeared. Luigi looked around, searching for wherever she might be. "Where the hell are you?" He yelled. He turned and saw Zelda still unconscious.

_Shit! Zelda!_ Luigi quickly ran towards Zelda, but he was too late.

Zelda suddenly stood up, as if she was possessed by an evil spirit. Her face was not peach-colored; it was now pale blue. Her dress had turned into an evil shade of violet. With a deeper voice, she cried "You can't hurt me now! If you attack me at all, you'll be hurting your friend!"

"Veran… An interesting trick up your sleeve, I have to admit."

"You can't defeat me in this form!"

Zelda, possessed by Veran, held an enormous black orb above her. Suddenly, multitudes of tiny black orbs shot out everywhere, with no room for a breather. Unable to dodge it, Luigi braced himself for impact of the dark orbs and felt the piercing pain again.

"Shit… This is NOT good…"

* * *

Samus began the battle with a super missile aimed at Onox's chest. Onox blocked it with his mace and threw it forward at frightening speeds. Samus jumped back, barely avoiding certain death even with her power suit on. A rough hole appeared in the floor where the mace struck. 

"Damn, one hit with that and I'm done for…" Samus cursed, still carrying Ganondorf. _I have to find a safe spot to put this guy in… If I drop him, he'll be vulnerable, but if I'm still carrying him, I lose a lot of my speed, and I'll eventually get hit… _

Samus threw Ganondorf's unconscious body upwards into the air. She quickly shot a barrage of super missiles, followed by a charged plasma shot, at Onox. None of the shots seemed to affect him because of his great armor!

"Damn… This is going to be hard…"

Onox spun in one circle, creating four whirlwinds that traveled swiftly across the ground, aimed towards Samus! Samus jumped high into the air, caught the falling Ganondorf, and landed behind Onox.

_Here! This is a good place!_ Samus quickly yet gently dropped Ganondorf next to the pile of rocks and quickly moved a larger rock over his body (not on top), so to hide him from Onox's rage.

_There! I can fight him at full power now!_

"You've got a lot of talent, but you're attacks can't make a dent on me!" cried Onox. "Even if I just stood here, you can't defeat me!"

"We'll see about that!"

Samus aimed her arm cannon at Onox, moving it around as if trying to snipe something miles away. Taking this chance, Onox swung his powerful mace at her again. Samus wavedashed back, keeping the same posture, to dodge the mace as she fired five missiles at the same time.

One at each elbow joint.

One at each knee joint.

One between the neck and the chest, making it a total of five missiles.

Onox grunted as the missiles struck the only spots that were armor-less. Even better, he was struck in various spots, pushing him towards the wall. Samus took this chance.

She dashed forward, gaining speed every millisecond she ran. She started her pace several feet away, so there was much distance between the two. However, this distance was closing in extremely fast. The moment before she crashed into Onox, several blue transparent clones of her appeared behind her as her entire suit turned orange.

"Speed Booster!" She cried, running right through Onox and piercing through his armor and body.

"Argh! What the hell!" He cried as he fell to the ground. He stood back up again to see a spinning Samus in front of his head.

"Followed by Screw Attack!" The familiar whirlwind of energy encircled Samus as she spun into Onox's head, blowing him across the room. Taking this chance, Samus started to run again to charge another Speed Booster attack.

Onox was slow, but he certainly wasn't stupid. The moment Samus was directly in front of him, and right before her Speed Booster activated, Onox shot his fist out into Samus's face, cracking her helmet and breaking her nose. Samus grunted as she felt blood spurting out of her nose.

"Shit… I can't let something like this bring me down yet… He has incredible reflexes to time a punch right before I activated my Speed Booster… Damn."

Onox threw his mace out at the vulnerable Samus, crashing into her leg. Samus cried out in pain as she felt the spikes break through her armor and stab her leg. Samus jumped back and charged another shot.

"Damn… I have to finish this quick…" she muttered.

"You have interesting tricks, but you can't pierce through my armor again!"

Samus shot a charged phazon shot at Onox, which easily pierced through his armor. The phazon material spread through his entire body, infecting him and his armor.

"ARGH! WHAT'S THIS BLUE STUFF? IT HURTS! AHHHHHH!" Onox cried.

Samus painfully shook her head. "I can't see a damn thing with this on now…" She took off her helmet, revealing a blond face under that helmet with a crooked nose. With her hands, she painfully cracked it back into place. Ouch...

Onox staggered. "It's clear that… with that… blue stuff… I can't defeat you with… my current form…"

"Current form?"

Onox smiled. "Prepare yourself, little girl!" His body quickly shone with white light as Samus shielded her eyes. When the light disappeared, Samus looked at where Onox once was to see nothing.

"Ha… Seems like he ran away…"

"OR DID I?" a loud booming voice was heard behind Samus. Samus whirled around to see a yellow dragon before her, one that took more than half of the room.

"What the hell?"

"You are finished now! You cannot defeat me!" Onox the dragon cried as he threw a claw at Samus's body. Samus was flung headfirst into the wall, giving her a major headache.

"Ow… Shit…" Groaning, she looked at the helmet below her. Strangely, it looked like it didn't break at all! Samus looked at her leg and saw that the armor was completely repaired!

_Huh… Looks like my new armor repairs itself. Strange but I'm not complaining._

Samus locked her helmet back on and glared at Onox. "Time to put an end to this!"

* * *

"Who was _that_ yelling?" said Luigi as he heard a booming voice from the other side of the rocks. 

"Onox must have transformed into his dragon form," said Veran. "Your friend is done for now!"

"Samus'll always find a way through. She's strong."

"Pah! Then try to defeat me without hurting your precious Zelda!"

Veran shot a wide beam of darkness at Luigi, who wavedashed to the side to avoid it. She quickly shot another beam at Luigi, who was forced to roll to the side.

_Damn it… How the hell can I beat Veran without hurting Zelda? That's probably impossible…_

_Hello? The most obvious thing is to knock Veran out of Zelda's body, then beat the crap out of her!_

Luigi leaned back to narrowly avoid the sixth beam passing dangerously close overhead.

_Whoa, close one._

_Yeah… Well, but how the hell do I do it? Getting Veran out of Zelda's body?_

_Duh! Your vacuum cleaner? Your ghost-busting busting thingy?_

…_Ah, you have a point there._

_Then just find a way to make her vulnerable to it!_

_It'll be hard…_

_Just do it!_

Luigi smiled. He _has_ found a way to defeat Veran now. He jumped towards the wall next to him, avoiding another dark beam.

"Damn it, why don't you stay still?" Veran yelled, shooting beam after beam.

Luigi, ignoring her, kicked off of the wall and landed, closer to Veran than he was before. He wavedashed to the side to avoid another beam, yet edging closer and closer to Veran. Eventually, he finally found himself right in front of her.

"What?" said Veran, but it was too late. Luigi kicked Veran towards the wall and quickly shot four electric balls, each aimed at a wrist or ankle. However, before they made contact, they each formed a ring around their targets, locking them onto the wall. So Veran's wrists and ankles were tied to the wall with electricity.

Luigi wavedashed forward and took out his Poltergust, the vacuum cleaner. He aimed it at Veran's face and turned it on. Veran's mouth opened as a purple gas came flowing out, clearly Veran's essence. Zelda fell to the floor, no longer possessed.

Before Veran's spirit was drained into the Poltergust, she quickly turned into a solid. Strangely, she didn't resemble a human being anymore. She was now a flying oversized bee.

"What the hell?" was the only thing that Luigi could say.

"You're much better than I thought, but this is where it ends!" Veran cried, raining millions of stingers all over the floor. Luigi braced himself for impact as he felt many of them piercing through his skin (just like when Fox fought the Zinger). He cried in pain as he kneeled on the ground, just to feel more sharp needles on the floor.

"Ugh… you…"

"This is where it ends!" cried Veran. She dive bombed towards the floor, charging at Luigi with her stinger pointed at him. Luigi prepared a fireball to shoot once she was close.

But the moment Luigi released it, the bee was nowhere to be seen. He looked down to see an enormous circular shadow growing larger and larger…

"HOLY SHIT!" he cried as he looked up to see an enormous turtle, about to fall on top of him!

Veran the turtle landed on the floor and jumped off, revealing a hole that her fall created. Luckily, Luigi wasn't there.

"Thank god that misfire worked… Otherwise, my Green Missile wouldn't have helped and I'd be crushed…" said Luigi.

"Not bad! You've been an interesting enemy up to now!" said Veran.

"Hmph, you too. But what are you going to turn into now, a spider?"

Veran was silent. "How… did you know my third form was… a spider?" she gasped.

"Whoa, lucky guess. Thanks for telling me I was right!" cried Luigi, surprised at his own guess.

"It does not matter, you will die right here!" Veran transformed into an oversized spider and shot multiple pieces of web at Luigi. Caught off guard, Luigi was struck by it. The web struck his wrists and his ankles, pinning him into the wall, just as Luigi did to her before.

"Defeated by your same tricks, eh? Oh, the irony…" said Veran as she transformed into a bee and prepared a super-charge on Luigi's head. From the other end of the room, she finally charged with her stinger pointed at Luigi's head, almost as fast as Samus using her speed booster!

Millimeters before Veran's stinger pierced through Luigi's skull, Veran's body set on fire and Luigi was directly behind her!

Instant Reply: Luigi lightly released fire from his wrists and ankles, slowly burning off the web. Because Veran was charging so darn fast, she couldn't tell that Luigi was gone before she reached him. Luigi swiftly rolled under the bee and released as much fire as he could from his hands on her back.

Taking this chance, Luigi jumped on Veran's head and kicked off of her, flipping into the air. As his altitude rose, he shot volleys of fireballs on her body, keeping her on fire. Once Luigi finally reached the ceiling, he flipped once in the air and pointed his ass down at Veran.

"This is the end!" cried Luigi as he fell down at frightening velocities, as fast as Veran's super charge. Luigi's butt stomp attack did the trick. As his bottom collided with Veran's head, Veran's body was blown down with Luigi. Her entire body was crushed between Luigi and the floor, just as bugs die when they get crushed.

Simply put, Veran got MURDERED!

Luigi stood up, wiping his butt.

"Ugh… wonder how I'll get all these needles out… And this bee goo… ew," said Luigi.

* * *

Now we return to Samus's fight. 

Onox threw another claw at Samus, which missed… by a lot. Samus hung from the ceiling with her grappling beam and jumped off, charging a plasma beam shot. She quickly released it at Onox's face, who simply swiped it away with his claw. The shot flew through the air, aimed back at her. Of course, since the plasma beam shoots out so darn fast, Samus couldn't react fast enough and felt a taste of her own medicine.

Luckily, her new suit was strong enough for her to resist the burning pain, and Samus quickly stood up again, thinking of another strategy to use on the dragon.

_Ugh… I hate it when people deflect my attacks… reminds me of Ridley. Wait, do I have to have another conversation with my conscience like Luigi and Captain Falcon did? Because it's really retarded, you know.  
_

…Shut up. You're not supposed to read people's minds! This is MY story, and I'm going to tell it MY way!

_Fine! Back to the fight! There has to be a damn weak point to that big dragon! I'm sure his scales are more durable than his armor from before…_

_Just look for a darn spot on him that doesn't look like gold! Geez, you're such an idiot, I don't get why I have to be your conscience…_

_Shut up._

_And you should be using that Phazon Beam. There isn't a limit on it for a reason, you know… Unlike missiles and your Annihilator Beam._

_My Annihilator Beam is still more powerful though, especially with the Sonic Boom._

_But you've got limited ammo. That's your problem. Use it at the right time._

_Hmph. Whatever. A part that doesn't look gold…_

Samus rolled back to avoid another dangerous slash from Onox as she aimed her arm cannon at Onox's face.

_That's it? That's his weak point? I can't believe I never noticed it…_

On the dragon's forehead was a red jewel, which was clearly not protected. It was stuck directly between his eyes.

Samus quickly shot a phazon shot at the jewel as she jumped to avoid another slash. Unfortunately for her, the shot simply bounced off of the jewel.

Fortunately, Onox grunted and flinched, giving her a bit of breathing room.

"Gr… What do you think you're doing?" he said.

"Hm, so that's your weak point? I just have to destroy that jewel to defeat you then!" said Samus.

"Just try then! It still has defenses that even you can't penetrate!"

_Hmph, I wonder if I could use my super booster… That teleporting thingy._

_Don't. You almost suffered permanent damage when you used it against Kraid. Remember it uses up your suit's energy. And a lot of it._

_Are you sure?_

_Positive. Another second and your arm would have broke. You would've lost your legs. Bad._

_Ouch. Fine._

_Besides, there are definitely more powerful enemies than Onox. And that one enemy here has to have some of the Endowment of Exigency. Safe it for that person._

_All right. I've got to use Sonic Boom, or maybe my Plasma Beam._

_Good idea. But remember, Sonic Boom uses ammo. Use it carefully. Onox probably has a more specific weakness._

Samus charged a plasma beam shot as she jumped to the side to avoid another slash. She jumped on the wall and wall jumped, releasing her charged plasma beam shot.

Onox quickly slashed the shot again, deflecting it. Of course, since it moves so fast, Samus shouldn't be able to react.

Fortunately, Samus expected this. She quickly curled up into a ball (not the morph ball) and activated her screw attack again, deflecting it back at Onox's forehead. It finally made contact, causing Onox to stumble.

Wait, stumble? That's right, even a super powerful charged plasma beam shot couldn't blow him up, let alone damage him.

"Ha! You really think that pitiful blast could defeat me?" said Onox.

"It's time for Sonic Boom then…" Samus quickly charged her Annihilator Beam and charged it, jumping off of another wall to skillfully avoid another slash.

She was in the air, completely open. Onox smiled, preparing his claws to crush her with both.

"Sonic Boom!" she cried as she released her powerful sound attack. Again, sound was blocked off as Onox's head became disfigured. The power of sound pelted his jewel from every direction, as if he was being stabbed at every angle while being punched… very hard.

After the attack disappeared, Onox stood up, smirking. "What was that? Even that couldn't defeat me!"

Samus glared at him. _There just has to be a weak point… I can't believe Sonic Boom failed. What a waste of ammo…_

_Well, I've got nothing to lose. Let's give it my all._

Samus switched her arm cannon's beam, causing it to display the words, "Wave Beam." She charged her beam, causing a ball of violet electricity to appear at the end of her cannon. She jumped up high, avoiding several slashes, and released an attack none of us have seen yet in this fic.

"Wavebuster!" She cried. An enormous stream of electricity flowed out from her cannon and struck Onox's forehead. Samus held her arm cannon, shaking, as she continuously pumped electricity through her cannon.

Deciding not to waste any more missiles, she withdrew her attack. Onox still stood strong, not impressed.

"Then take this!" Samus cried as she released five super missiles at once, all pelting Onox's jewel. He cried out in pain, falling to the ground and holding his forehead.

"What? That was your weakness? Just pure physical power? How pathetic!" yelled Samus. "This is just too easy!"

She approached the dragon on the floor and transformed into her morph ball form. She rolled towards the head of the stunned Onox and planted a power bomb. An enormous explosion erupted, blowing up everything within its vicinity (except Samus). The jewel on Onox's forehead shattered, destroying his life force. His eyes immediately closed, and his claws fell to the ground. His body turned into the limp carcass of a golden dragon.

Simply put, Onox got MURDERED!

"Peh… Now to get these rocks out of the way…" said Samus. She rolled to the pile of rocks, away from Ganondorf's body. She planted another power bomb, blowing them all away. When she unmorphed, she saw Luigi, who finally plucked all of the stingers on his body off.

"I'm assuming that you got rid of Onox, then?" Luigi asked, eyeing the dragon by Samus's feet.

"Yup. Piece of cake."

"Heh. Veran wasn't too bad. But I think there's something wrong with Zelda. Come here…"

Ganondorf suddenly coughed, finally opening his eyes.

"Ganondorf!" Both Luigi and Samus exclaimed.

"I heard… everything… About Zelda. She probably lost her spirit…"

"She lost her spirit? How?" said Samus. "Luigi! You should've protected her!"

"It must have been Veran… I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

Ganondorf smirked. "Well, what's done is done. Normally, I wouldn't help you guys out, but I'm going to for two reasons. One, you both saved my life. And two, there's no point in ruling over a land where it's filled with dead corpses."

"Heh. Still sticking to your roots, eh?"

"Shut the fuck up," Ganondorf snapped, finally standing. "Those two aren't a joke, and Vaati is obviously a lot more powerful. He's the one behind all this."

"Wait, so he's the one with the Endowment of Exigency?"

"What the fuck? How the hell do you know about that?"

Luigi shrugged. "Well we might as well tell him everything."

* * *

"And we ended up here, to defeat Onox and Veran to hopefully damage the rebel's side," Samus finally concluded. 

"Damn… That's one hell of a story. You've come so far, yet only defeated two. Ridley and Cackletta. Fortunately for you, I was involved with the Ring of Darkness," said Ganondorf.

"The Ring of Darkness?" questioned Luigi.

"Yeah. That's what these people call themselves. Half of them are selfish idiots that fight only for themselves though. It's time for me to tell you my story now."

"All right, we're listening," said Samus, sitting down to rest and listen. Luigi followed suite.

"You better. This is definitely important, and I would tell the others if I were you. You see, I am one of the three that added the secret ingredients in creating the Endowment of Exigency in your mansion. No Interruptions!" he commanded, looking at the surprised look on the two smashers' faces.

"Now, the other two are Doctor Mario and Mewtwo. Each one of us has added a secret ingredient, so there are three parts to it. The three of us don't know what each of us put in except for ourselves. I was also invited to join the Ring of Darkness, but I decided not to. Why? The Endowment of Exigency is too powerful to use.

In fact, it was so powerful and dangerous that Doctor Mario committed suicide."

Samus gasped. "What? Why? As far as I remember, he's the optimistic kind of guy!"

Luigi nodded his head. "Yeah, even more optimistic than Mario himself... Actually, that's not saying very much, but still..."

"No interruptions! I just told you why. He felt that he just inflicted destruction on the entire universe, and I feel that way too. In fact, to be completely honest, I feel the temptation to punish myself for my sins as well. Mewtwo… He sided with the Ring of Darkness. And he told them his part of the secret ingredient. Fortunately, he didn't know my part nor Doctor Mario's… until now.

But the thing is, Vaati forced me to send my reports to the Ring of Darkness, or else he'd destroy Pherae. An innocent land. I don't want it destroyed, so I had to give in. That's where Onox and Veran attacked me, while Vaati disappeared.

But back to the point. The main goal of the Ring of Darkness is to recreate the Endowment of Exigency with our secret ingredients, so they can unleash destruction and universe domination."

"Great, great, even more trouble…" sighed Luigi. "Well, we're thankful for that information and…"

"I'm not done yet! I don't know what Mewtwo's part is, but I can tell you mine. As far as I know, the Ring of Darkness has not collected any of them yet. It won't hurt for me to tell you my part, and I'm sure you'll put it to use."

"Okay," said Samus. "So what is it?"

Ganondorf sighed. "The life force of Dragons."

"Dragons?"

"Yes. Apparently, there exist powerful Dragons in Pherae. I didn't want Pherae to be destroyed for my selfishness, but I still had no choice but to hand my report over. But I can assure you that eventually, the Ring of Darkness will target Pherae.

In fact, Nergal is probably preparing an enchantment to summon dragons and kill them right now. It'll take weeks though."

"Nergal? Who's that?" asked Luigi.

"Ah, I need to tell you who's in the Ring of Darkness. I have the list right here." Ganondorf took out a sheet of paper and handed it over to Luigi and Samus.

1. The Master

2. Metaknight

3. Black Shadow

4. Wolf O'Donnell

5. Alex

6. Mewtwo

7. Vaati

8. Cackletta

9. Ridley

10. Nergal

11. King K. Rool

"It's all in order from strongest to weakest. Everyone from rank six and above can unleash a form called Ren Kiu, which is an alternate form that makes them more powerful."

Luigi frowned. "So we only took out two bottom members… Ridley and Cackletta. Unbelievable. Cackletta was powerful enough…"

"Not surprising we got taken out by Metaknight so easily back there, even with us five against him right?" said Samus.

"I guess. We'll just have to get stronger."

"Enough. I can tell you everything else you need to know, but we need to save Zelda's spirit before it dies out," explained Ganondorf.

"The two of you must travel across the Haunted Wasteland, a desert filled with sandstorms. Once you cross it, you'll reach the Spirit Temple. Wandering spirits flow over there all the time. I'm sure you'll find Zelda's spirit there. But before you look for Zelda's spirit, you have to find Nabooru, the sage of the spirit."

"Why?" Luigi asked.

"Because you can't do anything with spirits without her. She's always somewhere within the spirit temple. Find her. She'll definitely know what happened to Zelda by the time you get there. From there, do what she says then return as soon as possible.

If I'm not here… Do as much as you can to seek out Vaati and defeat him to stop this stupid war."

"Heh. Pretty noble for the king of thieves," said Luigi.

"Ha ha, very funny… Before you go, you'll need the Lens of Truth. It allows you to see the unseen, like invisible ghosts. You'll need it to get to the Spirit Temple."

"I can already use my x-ray visor, so there's no point in using it," said Samus.

"Can Luigi see them?" asked Ganondorf.

"Sorry, but I can't."

"All right. Take the Lens of Truth in case the two of you get separated. A step in the wrong direction in the Haunted Wasteland can send you back to the beginning instantly, so be careful. Trust me, it gets very annoying." Ganondorf took out a violet magnifying glass and gave it to Luigi, who pocketed it.

"What are you going to do then?" asked Samus.

Ganondorf smiled. "First, I'm going to get Zelda to a safe place in this fortress, so she can't be found. Then I'm going to be preparing my Gerudo to fight against the rebels. Fine with that?"

Both smashers smiled. "I think Zelda will be fine with that," said Luigi.

"Then if she's fine with it, I'm fine with it as well," Samus replied.

"All right, go now. The gate to the Haunted Wasteland is open. You can't waste a damn second, got that?" Ganondorf pointed out of the wall and at a wide desert opening. "That's the Haunted Wasteland. It'll take a while for you to cross. You better get Zelda back, or else the war will never end."

"Heh… All right. Take good care of her body, Ganondorf," said Luigi as he waved.

"Don't die out there, you dork."

"Pfft, I won't. Zelda's more important right now," said Ganondorf. He quickly shook his head. "This is no fucking time to be wasting time! Get going, you idiots!"

Samus and Luigi jumped off of the building as Ganondorf picked up Zelda's body. "…I believe I finally found hope and a will to live with those two. Good luck."

A Gerudo appeared behind him. "What should be do, your majesty?" she asked.

"Take Zelda's body and prepare the frontline troops. We're going out to Hyrule field to take care of some rebels. You heard me," added Ganondorf as he saw the shocked expression on the Gerudo's face. "We're going to get ourselves involved with the war now."

* * *

"Commander! Commander!" a young boy ran through a group of metal-armored troops camping out. The troops were socializing, training, or sleeping as the boy ran past. 

"Excuse me, do you know where the commander is?" he asked a random soldier.

"Right over there, young lad. You can't miss him, as he doesn't dress in armor," he said. The boy thanked him as he ran towards the man without armor.

"Commander!" he yelled up to a young man.

"What is it? Oh, a young boy! What do you want?" he asked.

"I want to join your army! The rebels! I want to fight for this land and get the triforce for the land!" he said.

"A young boy fighting? No way, you're too young," the man waved him off. "Maybe once you're fifteen, you can."

"I'm not afraid of fighting!"

"Really?" The man quickly took off his shirt, showing his bare chest and a gigantic hole in his right shoulder.

"Permanent damage, nothing I can do about it. A bomb arrow got me there. You still not scared?"

The young boy looked like he was about to cry, but he faced the commander. "I'm still not afraid!"

The man placed his hand on the boy's head. "Then go back to your family. They must be worried sick."

"Why should I go back if you're not going back to a family?"

"…Just go back. Now. They must be worried sick."

The boy took one last glance at the commander then ran off. A gigantic Goron walked up to him, having bulging muscles in his two arms.

"Brother? Are you all right?" the Goron asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just that I never had a family."

"Link, my boy, it doesn't matter if you never had one."

"But I always feel alone… all the time… But I still love this land. Therefore, I shall fight for it. I shall claim the triforce and use its power over the land."

"That's my brother!"

"Darunia, you got the troops ready? We're going to hit Hyrule Castle in three days, but I need to collect materials from Kakariko village right now. They're on our side, so they won't hesitate to offer weapons and materials for us."

"Good idea. Will this be our final fight?"

"Yes… I don't want to unleash any more bloodshed. This fight will decide all," Link stood up, putting his green tunic back on. "Everyone heard that? Get yourselves rested up, because we're going to get to Hyrule Castle in three days. Once there, we're going to hit them with everything we've got. And I've got just the right strategy for the attack…"


	18. Chapter 18: A New Step Up

Hack: Another chapter! I'm on a roll! Fights based on Fox! Yay! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 18: A New Step Up  
**

"Marth! What are you doing?" Popo asked. The five smashers were outside of the mansion, just doing nothing. How pointless.

"Calling a ship to pick us up. Apparently, there's no point in living here if there's no energy to power it," Marth explained.

"Wow… really gay…" said Kirby.

"Shut up! There's little kids here! Why am I stuck with a bunch of midgets…"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Pichu cried as he felt a sword slicing his body, falling to the ground.

"What the… What happened?" Nana and Popo rushed to Pichu, who was now…

"Unconscious, just like you four will be!" Popo and Nana blocked another slash with their hammers and threw an ice block, hoping to hit their pursuer. Nana cried as she was stabbed in the back, falling to the ground.

"Nana!" Popo cried, but he fell down to another invisible yet loud slash as well.

Marth quickly drew his sword, finally registering in his mind what's happening. "An attack! Kirby, get ready!"

"Of course!" said Kirby. "I'm glad we can use non-smash moves out here!"

"So Kirby, we meet again!" said Metaknight.

"Metaknight? What the…"

"You know him?" asked Marth.

"My archirival and enemy. I don't know what he's doing here, and he seems infinitely more powerful! But to hell I'm going to lose this time!"

"Hmph, I think I'll take out the swordsman first!" said Metaknight as he locked himself with Marth in sword combat.

"My sword skills are unmatched within the smashers' community. You cannot hope to defeat me!" said Marth as he flung Metaknight off with his sword. Metaknight quickly parried with a stab in the shoulder. Marth grunted, grabbing his shoulder. Taking this change, Metaknight drew his sword from Marth's shoulder and quickly slashed Marth in the chest and kicked him away, preparing himself to fight Kirby.

"Why are you here?" Kirby asked.

"We are in need of hostages, and you five are our hostages!"

"Well I'm not going to let myself become one! Nor the others!" Kirby donned a violet ninja's hat and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Metaknight quickly swung his sword behind him, blocking a knife attack. Before he knew what happened, he felt a singeing pain on his back. Kirby donned a hat on fire as he prepared another breath of fire.

"I don't think so! I have to stop wasting my time now, it's time to end this!" Metaknight held his sword to the side.

"What are you doing?" asked Kirby.

"_Ren Kiu… Halcyon, Form!_"

Before Kirby knew what happened, he felt millions of slashes on his body, blood spurting everywhere.

* * *

Fox frowned. "You guys use the weirdest weapons of all," he said. 

Beside him were Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo, each wielding a bat, frying pan, gun, and sword (respectively). Ness shrugged. "Well this isn't Pherae where you have lances, or Corneria where you have lasers."

"I suppose…"

"Just leave this to us. You're still not in fighting condition," said Paula.

"We're fully capable of defeating this creature by ourselves," said Poo. He quickly raised his sword. "_Starstorm Omega!_"

Small, sharp yellow stars dropped from the sky, all targeting the Chomposaur. The stars pelted its back, piercing through its skin with pure light energy.

Paula released the next spell. "_Fire Omega!_" A thick line of fire erupted from her hands, shooting through the Chomposaur. It roared in pain, shaking its body as it fell to the ground.

Ness jumped to the dinosaur's face and smashed his bat on it, cracking its skull. The Chomposaur was quickly taken down.

"Jeff! Now!" Ness cried. Jeff nodded as he took out a small gun, apparently the fossil machine. After adjusting a few settings on his gun, he aimed it at the unconscious Chomposaur and fired, transforming it into a small fossil.

"Wow… You guys are a good team together," said Fox.

The four others walked over to get the fossil. "Is this it, Jeff?" Ness asked.

"I'm sure it is, from my examinations it certainly looks like one," said Poo, holding the fossil in his hand.

"Let me see," said Jeff as he snatched it from Poo. He took out a magnifying glass and stared through it. "Yup, the machine worked. We can get you out of here now, Fox."

Ness smiled. "Fox, come over here, we're going to teleport back."

Suddenly, a metal cage fell on top of Ness and his friends, leaving Fox outside of it. Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo were trapped in the cage, and there wasn't enough space to teleport out of it! (yes, you have to have space to teleport, and lots of it too)

"Ha ha! I can't believe you actually fell for that!" another teenager yelled. A small spider-like vehicle appeared with a glass cockpit, showing a blond boy with enormous buck teeth sitting lazily in it. The vehicle had six mechanical legs and two arms with claws at the end. It was around twice as taller than Fox.

"Pokey! What are you doing?" Ness cried, grabbing the cage bars. He quickly drew back, feeling electricity flow from the cage into his body.

"I knew you were going to try to get the Chomposaur fossil!" said Pokey as his vehicle snatched the fossil out of Jeff's hand. "Now with this, I can travel back through time to save Gigyas and revive him, then he can rule the entire universe!"

"No way… you can't do that…"

"Now with you four out of the way, I can just leave here with this fossil in hand!" said Pokey as the cockpit opened and the claw dropped the fossil in. The cockpit closed as Pokey held up the fossil, smirking.

"Well I don't think you're going to leave here with my permission, Pokey," said Fox.

"Oh my, this must be that fox that you were talking with! He must be pretty weak, I think."

Fox angrily drew his weapons: his staff in his left hand and his blaster in his right. "Try me," he said. "I'll turn your machine into scrap!"

"Pah! Yeah right!"

Ness frowned. "I can't use any of my PSI here…" he groaned.

"Me neither…"

"I cannot use mine either."

Pokey smirked. "That cage I created prevents PSI users from using PSI! Duh! So you can't intervene!"

Fox coughed, covering his mouth with his right hand. He held his palm towards his face to see drops of blood. _Shit… I'm still not fully recovered…_

_So I'll have to finish this… Fast._

_

* * *

_

Luigi and Samus have been stomping through the sandstorm, hardly able to see anything, for hours. The sand engulfed their feet with every step they took as they followed the flags that Ganondorf pinpointed before.

"How does Link do this? His quests are crazy!" said Luigi.

"Well you just said his bosses are wimps."

"Well because they are!"

"Whatever…"

"Wonder how I can work this thing…" he said as he pulled out the Lens of Truth.

"Beats me, just try looking through it or something."

Luigi looked through the lens of the mirror. Once he did, he saw what he saw before with a purple shade.

"Don't really see anything."

"Well there isn't anything unseen yet, as my x-ray visor tells me."

"Hm? I see some sort of structure there."

Luigi pointed to the ruins of a desert building. Both smashers ran up to it.

"What is this?" Samus asked.

"Don't ask me."

Luigi and Samus walked around the ruins, looking for anything that might help.

"I don't really see anything here, we might as well continue," said Luigi.

"Easier said than done. I don't see any more flags for us to follow," said Samus.

"Try using your x-ray visor then," advised Luigi. Samus flicked her visor on and looked around the desert.

"I don't see anything… wait. Get the lens of truth out, I see something in the middle of the ruins."

Luigi held the lens of truth in his hands and looked through it. "What the… I see four ghosts."

"Yeah. Pretty weird. We probably have to follow them or something."

Luigi and Samus walked up to the four ghosts. "Excuse me, do you know the way to the Spirit Temple?"

The ghosts cackled. Each was of different colors, blue, purple, green, and red. Each also carried a lamp with fire.

The blue one cackled. "The poe that lived her earlier knows, and she would gladly lead you. However, on orders of Vaati, we are to dispose of her and guard these ruins."

The green one smiled. "Yes, indeed, and he told us to keep watch over whoever tries to get to the Spirit Temple."

"If you wish to pass by, you must defeat us!"

"Charge, sisters!"

All four poe sisters were immediately blown up by a well-aimed Sonic Boom by Samus.

Luigi shrugged. "When are you ever going to use something besides Sonic Boom and Super Missiles?" he asked.

"Don't know."

"You kinda overdid it though, we can't get to the Spirit Temple now…"

"Check again."

Luigi looked through the Lens of Truth again, and voila! New flags were scattered ahead, allowing them to continue on! Furthermore, the traditional Zelda 'You found something!' chime was heard.

"That's convenient," Luigi simply said.

"Let's go then!" said Samus. "Keep the Lens of Truth up all the time, we'll never know when it might come in handy."

"All right."

They continued to walk in silence, hearing nothing but the roaring screams from the sandstorms. After another hour of walking, Luigi finally said something.

"What do you think?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"About everything Ganondorf told us. The three secret parts to the Endowment of Exigency, Doctor Mario committing suicide…"

"…Yeah. He was a cool guy. I can't imagine him committing suicide."

"Before we defeated Veran and Onox, I felt a strange energy flowing from Ganondorf… Something that shows that he was depressed. I think he was going to kill himself as well."

"He better not."

"I don't think he will," Luigi said with a smile. "Because of us giving him new hope. I don't think he feels that he destroyed the entire universe anymore."

"I guess."

"After we're finished with Vaati here, where do you think we'll go next?"

"I have no idea. I think we should stop at Kanto though. If Mewtwo is there, that's a perfect chance to interrogate him."

"Then we'd better train as much as we can, because he can use this… Ren Kiu form thingy. He's probably far more powerful than Cackletta and Ridley, and even Vaati."

Samus sighed. "Wonder how the others are doing. Hopefully we'll see Fox, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff again soon."

"Yup."

"Because with the five of us together, we are unstoppable."

* * *

Pokey attacked Fox first, shooting out a claw at Fox. Fox wavedashed to the side to avoid it, then he quickly aimed his charged blaster and released it. The laser shot flew through the air, striking a leg of the crab-like machine. 

Unfortunately, it didn't do a thing.

The other claw charged, grabbing Fox. It pinned him against the side of a tree as the other claw prepared to smash his head.

"How pathetically weak!" said Pokey. "My Crabinator 2000 is unstoppable!" The claw shot out at Fox, who was trapped underneath the other claw.

The claw missed, because Fox moved his head to the left. More importantly, it missed because Pokey had bad aim. It pierced through the tree behind Fox, releasing him from the claw's grasp.

Fox took this chance to attack. He rushed up to Pokey and short hopped, dropping a sex kick on the cockpit. He fell to the floor and quickly short hopped again, performing a swift drill kick.

_What the hell? It's not even cracking! One kick should be enough to destroy glass!_

He stabbed his staff on the glass, yet it still bounced off. Fox jumped back to avoid another claw. He jumped high on top of another tree and took out his missile launcher.

One can easily predict what he did.

The missile struck the cockpit head on, leaving a large explosion behind. When the smoke cleared away, however, it still wasn't scratched!

"What the hell is up with your machine? Is that even made of glass?" Fox cried.

"Peh! As if I'd tell you!" Pokey angrily replied.

Fox drew out his sniper rifle and shot a red laser into the center of the glass cockpit. Again, it didn't make a scratch.

_How can I destroy this… lasers and explosions won't work… kicks and my staff don't work, so what should I do?_

"Ha! None of your weapons will work! The only way you can destroy the Crabinator is if you literally cut it in half! I doubt that will ever happen, though!" Pokey snickered. "I'm just going to end this right now! Crabinator, transform!"

Like a Robot Transformer, the Crabinator split into several sections, and more metallic parts popped out from its body. When the sections were back together, Pokey was riding in the cockpit of an enormous human-like robot.

"Die!" Pokey cried as the robot shot enormous missiles from its hands. The missiles were one second away from blowing up Fox, and there were so many it was near impossible to dodge them all.

"Shit!" yelled Fox as he attempted to wavedash back. He tripped, clutching his heart in pain. He slowly stood up, facing the missiles right in front of him.

_Shit… I'm still not cured…_

_

* * *

_

"_Fox…" said Krystal. "You know the staff that you carried with you on Dinosaur Planet. You received my telepathic message the moment you picked it up, right?"_

_Fox nodded. "Yeah, I didn't know it was your voice until I rescued you from Krazoa Palace."_

"_I said that you were ready to become its master."_

"_Well obviously it's not mine, so you can have it back."_

"_But did you ever reach its full potential before?"_

_Fox looked puzzled. "What?"_

"_I doubt it. Even I never reached these. You are still only a novice with the staff. Tell me, Fox, have you ever cut through something with it?"_

"_Eh? I never really did, unless stabbing it through the Red Eye King counts."_

"_Well we'll use that as an example. The truth is, to bring your abilities with the staff up another level, you must learn to actually cut with it. Using it like a sword whenever you like," explained Krystal._

"_But I can just use a sword then, right?"_

"_Yes, well the staff is much more beneficial. You can use it as a double edge sword whenever you like, it is much more lighter than most swords, and much more thinner. With the staff, you have much more freedom with where you swing it."_

"_Yeah, I definitely noticed when I fought the Sharpclaw."_

"_So tell me, Fox. What did you feel the moment you stabbed the Red Eye King? What kind of emotions ran through your brain? Your heart? What did you think of your staff, Fox? Think about it. It might save your life one day."_

_

* * *

_

"_So you're the Red Eye King, eh? That must mean you carry the third Spellstone then!" said Fox. He faced an enormous green dinosaur with red eyes and yellow teeth._

_The king roared as it charged at Fox. Fox rolled to the side and walled jumped off the wall. He swung his staff at the Red Eye's forehead, but it simply bounced off._

"_Your scales are hard, eh?" he said as he continued to pointlessly hack away at the head of the Red Eye. He fell to the ground and saw a bomb nearby. He quickly grabbed it and threw it at the Red Eye, which caused it to fall. Fox quickly rolled towards it, readying his staff._

"_This is for Tricky, this is for the King Earthwalker, and this is for the entire Walled City! This is for the entire planet!" he cried. He jumped up high, pointing his staff down, and landed on the king's head, sinking it all the way through the king's forehead. With its brain impaled, the king could do nothing as its eyes closed, its life fading away._

_

* * *

_

_What did I feel? That's a good question, Krystal…_

_Determination… Hate… Revenge… Loyalty… All of those feelings combined._

_Can I unleash that power again? But what must I do…?_

Fox closed his eyes, currently unaware of the missiles about to blow him up again, unaware of Pokey laughing. He turned his head to the four trapped teenagers. He held his staff to his side.

_Ness… Paula… Jeff… Poo… They're all in danger. I have someone to protect. They gave everything they had to save me, and they're going through all this trouble to help me finish my quest._

_They sacrificed so much just for me… And they're now my friends._

_I will not allow all of their work to go in vain._

_Transfer my thoughts through my staff… I want to save my friends. I want to destroy this boy who is attempting to ruin everything._

_I have to win to defeat Metaknight. I have to win to get back with Samus. Luigi. Jigglypuff. Captain Falcon._

_I have to win to save the entire Nintendo universe._

BOOM. The missiles collided, creating huge explosions that blinded everyone that looked. Ness and his friends shielded their eyes from it.

"Fox!" he cried. "No! Don't die!"

After several minutes, the smoked finally cleared away. Fox was nowhere to be seen.

"Ha ha! Where's your foxy friend now, Ness? I think I'm going to take care of you four now!" said Pokey.

"Hmph? I don't think so," said Fox. He held his staff in front of him, standing directly behind the Crabinator.

"What? How did you… Survive that?" Pokey gasped.

"Heh… I probably couldn't. Obviously I escaped."

The human-like robot suddenly split into two, vertically across the cockpit. Pokey was cut in half as the machine exploded, sending debris everywhere. After the smoke cleared out, Pokey was nowhere to be seen.

And he just got owned.

Fox smiled. _I give my thanks to you, Pokey. Now I have brought my abilities up a new level._

He walked up to the caged teenagers and slashed the bars opened with his staff. Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo ran out.

"Fox! That was totally awesome! How did you do that?" Paula cried.

"I admit, that was very impressive. Your staff could probably stand up to my Sword of Kings," said Poo.

"Nice job!" said Jeff.

"Fox… That was incredible," said Ness.

"Yeah…" replied Fox. "I've got the fossil... It's here... Ugh!" he groaned as he fell to the ground, clutching his heart. He coughed out blood, lying on the ground on his back.

"Shoot! Poo, get ready with your healing spells! We have to get teleport ready!" Ness cried.

"Understood. _Healing Beta!_" Fox stopped coughing out blood, though he was still clearly in pain as he groaned.

"Did he overdo it?" asked Paula.

"Apparently he did, and he'll have to stay here a couple more days, I think," Jeff answered.

Ness held out his hands. "Get ready. Hold Fox. We have to teleport back to Dr. Andonuts." Poo carried Fox on his shoulder as Ness whispered, "_Teleport Beta…_"


	19. Chapter 19: The End of Training

Hack: Another chapter out of the way. After five chapters of absence, Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff will finally make appearances again! Yay!

By the way, the Poe Sisters from the previous chapter are from the Forest Temple in Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

* * *

**Chapter 19: The End of Training**

"Captain Falcon. Jigglypuff. You both have finally finished your one week of training. The two of you, however, have one final test that you both must complete," said Gaspar. "If you don't pass it, you will not be able to face the trials of your quest ahead."

Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff stood in front of Gaspar, exhausted.

"But I must say… I was just wondering. Care to give any comments on your training?"

"Tiring…" said Jigglypuff.

"Damn straight it was fucking tiring!" Captain Falcon angrily yelled. Then he smiled. "But it was definitely damn worth it. I feel that I can beat anyone now! If I get some rest first."

"Well you will get some rest after this test. Spekkio! Vivian!"

Spekkio and Vivian appeared before Gaspar, Falcon, and Jigglypuff. "Yes, sir?" asked Spekkio.

"You want us to give them the final test?" asked Vivian.

"Precisely."

Vivian and Spekkio both smiled. Spekkio gave the instructions. "Well your final test is extremely simple. Defeat us in a two on two battle with your new abilities," he said.

Falcon smiled. "Of course. That's so damn simple. I'm so going to kick your asses!"

Vivian held up a finger. "Well don't get overconfident, this is your first time actually using your new abilities in combat."

Jigglypuff shrugged. "I wish good luck to all four of us then!"

Gaspar smiled. "Yes, well… I will leave you guys to fight now. Once it is over, I shall return to see if both of you pass." He disappeared.

"Well now," said Spekkio. "Let's start now! _Flare!_"

A column of fire erupted around Jigglypuff and Falcon. Falcon quickly grabbed Jigglypuff with his speed and jumped away to avoid the spell. Vivian appeared right in front of him.

"Shade Fist!" she cried, throwing out a quick flaming punch at Falcon. Falcon threw Jigglypuff up into the air and blocked with his arms, causing them to slightly burn.

"What are you doing?" asked Spekkio. "Start using what we taught you!"

"Rock Slide!" Jigglypuff cried. An avalanche of rocks collapsed on top of Vivian, so heavy that the ground started to shake. When the rocks cleared out, Vivian was nowhere to be seen.

Falcon's eyes opened wide. "Jigglypuff! Behind you!" he cried.

Vivian emerged from the shadows directly behind Jigglypuff and threw another flaming Shade Fist at her, burning her. Spekkio threw another spell at Jigglypuff. "Ice2!"

A sheet of ice fell on top of Jigglypuff, crushing her in sheer cold.

Well, she probably would have been crushed if she didn't use…

"Flamethrower!" Jigglypuff cried, shooting a line of fire from her hands. The ice quickly melted into water and Jigglypuff jumped away from Vivian.

"Falcon! Where is he?" Spekkio just noticed that Captain Falcon disappeared.

"Over here!" he said, appearing from the ground directly before Spekkio. He threw a flaming punch at his back, sending Spekkio flying into the air. Jigglypuff jumped up and threw a quick kicked at Spekkio's face, sending him back into the ground. Captain Falcon clasped his hands together, closing his eyes.

"Heat Wave!" he cried, charging his hands with fire. The moment Falcon threw his hands into Spekkio's body, fire erupted from Falcon's hands, piercing through Spekkio's skin.

Jigglypuff fell on top of Spekkio and prepared to use her signature move!

REST!

Spekkio's body was set on fire (again) and sent flying into a black wall, knocked unconscious. He has just been owned.

"Well we're done…" said Jigglypuff.

"Not yet, there's Vivian!" cried Falcon.

"While you were busy beating up Spekkio, I charged up a powerful spell that can defeat you two!" cried Vivian as she emerged from the shadows. "_Fiery Jinx!_"

There was no way to avoid it. A small explosion erupted from both Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff's body. Jigglypuff fell to the ground, her body filled with superficial burns and knocked out from the blow.

"Damn, that was burning!" cried Falcon, rubbing his new burns painfully. _But can I use that attack too?_

He closed his eyes, focusing all of his emotions into his hands. Vivian appeared right in front of him, preparing herself for another Shade Fist.

"_Fiery Jinx!_" Falcon cried. A familiar explosion erupted from Vivian's body. What was different was that this explosion was a LOT bigger! So big that Falcon got caught in it himself!

"Enough!" Gaspar cried. He swung his hand, releasing a bright light. All of the fires disappeared as Gaspar appeared in the middle of the room. Jigglypuff and Spekkio climbed back onto their feet, looking at Falcon and Vivian.

"Well I don't have much to say…" said Gaspar. "Jigglypuff, you know the perfect times to use your abilities. Flamethrower on Ice2? Rock Slide on a fire-based enemy? Nice job. You definitely pass."

Jigglypuff sweetly smiled. "What about Falcon?" she asked.

"Hm. Judging from your fighting, Falcon, I'd say you are actually a lot more powerful than Vivian, just less experienced. That would explain why you got caught in your own fiery jinx, since you couldn't control your overflowing power."

"Just spit it out, man!" Falcon complained.

"But you learned how to unleash your full potential! All you need is some experience and control with your new abilities. With that, you pass as well!"

Falcon smiled as well. "That is so damn awesome!"

Gaspar smiled. "Well, spend the rest of today resting. You have quite a bit of time. Tomorrow, however, is when you must continue your quest."

"Where are we going to go?" Falcon asked as Spekkio and Vivian disappeared from sight.

"Well you should definitely recognize this place. It is where one of the Endowment of Exigency users are."

"Where?"

Gaspar smiled (too much smiling!) "Mute City," he said.

"Oh damn! I'm going back to my home this time!" Falcon cried with joy.

"Yes. Two of your enemies are there right now. You can hunt them down tomorrow first thing. But for now, I'm sure you want rest."

"Definitely…" said Falcon.

"Yeah, it's been really exhausting…" said Jigglypuff. "But I still have to train for the remaining time we have in here."

She walked away, leaving the others with a shocked expression.

"She takes it really seriously..." said Falcon.

"It's a good thing, not a bad thing..." replied Spekkio, smiling.

* * *

"Wow…" said Luigi. "That sure was one tiring trek…" 

"I concur," replied Samus as they both stood before the tall Spirit Temple. It looked like the ruins they were at before, except it was actually a building. It seemed like it was made of sand, in a way.

"So this is the Spirit Temple. Doesn't seem too much like a temple to me, though. More like a ton of sandy buildings."

"Well then, let's enter."

Both Luigi and Samus walked into the open doorway below an arch. What stood before them was an enormous Egyptian-like statue of a woman sitting down. In her mouth was a door that led to who knows where, and besides the statue were more metal doors.

"Pretty impressive," said Luigi. "I think this temple's been renovated or something, because by the looks of it, I doubt there are any huge puzzles."

Samus shrugged. "Well, let's go up to that big door. The whole placed seems to be centered on that huge statue, so my guess is that we have to up there." Samus shot her grappling beam up to the top of the statue and hurled herself over to the door. Luigi effortlessly back flipped to a wall behind him and used a wall kick to gain height to reach the door.

They instantly found who they were looking for. A thin Gerudo in a floating circular chamber suspended in the air by magic.

"Um…" started Luigi. "Excuse me, but are you Nabooru? We're supposed to look for a Gerudo named her."

"Yes, I am Nabooru. You both must be Luigi and Samus," the Gerudo said, turning around. She looked taller than the standard Gerudo soldier, with more noticeable curves and longer hair. "I am the Sage of the Spirit, and I knew that you were both coming. Zelda's spirit is in this temple, yet it is weak because of Veran."

"Wow… you already know everything," said Samus.

"Come on! Zelda already knew everything that was going on. I guess that's how things are with lots of important people in Hyrule… Prophecies and stuff," replied Luigi.

"Yes, well, in order to extract Zelda's spirit back into her body back at the fortress, I need you two. Taking her spirit by myself will destroy my body, resulting in the destruction of Hyrule without balance in the sages. That's why I need you two.

Her soul is through this door here. Follow me," said Nabooru. She opened a door directly behind her and walked through it. Luigi and Samus followed her, just to hear a high pitched scream.

"Nabooru, you foolish Gerudo," a man said. "I knew you were going to bring Zelda back. On the orders of Vaati, I shall bring you to him, so you will not be in any danger."

An overweight man stood below a large crystal, one that Nabooru was trapped in. She was raised up high in the room.

Luigi and Samus rushed into the room. "Who the hell are you?" Samus asked, threateningly pointing her arm cannon at the fat man.

The man sneered. "I am Agahnim, the dark wizard of Hyrule. Vaati told me about you two, and I have been sent here to bring Nabooru to him and to exterminate you two."

"Geez, we keep fighting battle after battle here in Hyrule," said Luigi.

"Well we're not going to get anywhere without beating him, seeing as he wants us killed," replied Samus.

"That's true. I suppose we'll just have to defeat him. Agahnim, we accept your fight!"

"Then come, foolish mortals!" Agahnim cried. Samus quickly released a super missile at him, while Luigi shot a large fireball. Both deflected off of the wizard as the wizard shot two homing electric balls at the two smashers. Both Samus and Luigi rolled in opposite directions to avoid them. Luigi ran towards Agahnim and prepared to strike him with a deadly karate chop.

The attack connected. There was a spark of lightning, and Luigi felt electricity pulse through every inch of his body as Agahnim laughed. Luigi groaned as he fell on the ground.

"Ha ha! You can't damage me with physical attacks! I am protected!" he cried.

Samus responded with a charged plasma shot that also bounced off an invisible barrier. "What the hell is up with this guy? None of our attacks can connect!" she cried.

"I don't know… apparently he has this huge shield that deflects all attacks that we send at him," said Luigi.

"Glad that you figured that out! Now feel my wrath!" Agahnim suddenly split into three people, two clones of himself. All three shot a pair of electric balls each, releasing a total of six at Luigi and Samus.

"What the hell? He split up into more people?" Samus angrily complained.

"This is going to be a pain in the ass…" Luigi groaned.

"Wait, I have an idea." Samus jumped into all six energy balls with her screw attack on, spinning into them with whirlwinds of energy. All of the electric balls were blown away, back at the three Agahnims.

"Well that takes care of that attack, but we have to think about attacking him now," said Samus.

Agahnim suddenly cried in pain. His two shadows disappeared as the electric balls pierced through his barrier, shocking him with several thousand volts of electricity.

Luigi smiled. "Well I guess that solves our problem." He charged electricity in his right hand, and then shot a beam of thunder at Agahnim.

Strangely, the beam was deflected, shooting back at Luigi! Fortunately, it simply passed by his head, not shocking him.

"You fool…" said Agahnim. "You can't defeat me. And once you find a way, I will kill you first!" Suddenly, there were at least a hundred Agahnims in the room, all clones but one. All of them charged electric balls, preparing themselves to shoot at the pair of smashers.

"Great, this is a great day we're having," groaned Samus.

"I have a plan!" Luigi said as he threw his white gloves off.

"What? What is it?"

Agahnim sneered. "It's too late! Your deaths are inevitable!"

"…so you got that, Samus?"

"Yeah. Pretty simple, but I think it'll work."

The energy balls were all inches away from the two smashers. Luigi jumped in front of Samus and held his hands out, absorbing all of the electric balls into his green gloves. He continuously took in attack after attack.

Luigi flinched. "Samus! I don't think I can hold on any longer!" he said. "You ready?"

"Yeah!"

Luigi quickly withdrew his hands, now pumped with electricity. Samus jumped in front of him, a whirlwind of energy surrounding her.

"Screw Attack!" she cried as she deflected the rest of the energy balls back at all of the Agahnims.

All of the Agahnims disappeared as the energy balls struck them. The one leftover was struck with one energy ball, slightly damaging his body.

"How could you evade that attack? Never mind that, you won't get another chance since I was only struck by one!" he sneered.

"Don't be so sure!" said Luigi as he held his hands out. "Let's release it now!"

He opened his palms and released all of the electricity he absorbed.

There was a yellow explosion filled with lightning, right where Agahnim stood. Agahnim cried in pain as he felt his body struck with millions of volts of electricity, a taste of his own medicine. After Luigi ceased his attack, all that was left was ashes.

Agahnim, the Dark Wizard, was of no more.

"So the only way to pierce through his shield was with his own attacks, that was your plan?" Samus asked.

Luigi shrugged. "It makes sense."

"Well we've got to get Nabooru out of that prison, then get Zelda's spirit. There's no telling what's happening right now in Hyrule Field."

* * *

"It's certainly a gloomy day today," Daphnes Nohanson Hyrule, the king of Hyrule said. "Don't you agree with me, Link?" 

Link nodded. "Yes. A villain would most certainly enjoy this rainy day."

Both the king and Link stood by the window of the castle, looking outside. Both looked like they were exhausted.

"I would really like to see to the end of this war. Without the triforce being taken by the rebels," said King Hyrule.

"Our spies indicate that the rebel armies are resting out near Kakariko Village. Apparently, that village is allied with them, so they are offering supplies without hesitation," Link explained.

"Ah… I see…"

"What are your orders, your majesty?"

"Leave Kakariko Village alone."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. They are only doing what they believe is right."

"…I concur. But they are trying to take the Triforce to…"

"…to help this land. What they don't understand is what dangers that will lead to. There will definitely be one man among many that will be greedy. That man will undoubtedly take the triforce for his selfish needs."

"Yes. I understand," Link replied. "By the way, have you seen Zelda?"

"Zelda? She is out with two… smashers, they call themselves. They arrived here to help us end this war as soon as possible."

"Two smashers? What are their names?" Link asked.

"I do not know."

"So do you know when she will be back?"

"I… do not know."

"Figures. I'm sure she'll be fine though. But on to more important topics. Your majesty, from what our spies have confirmed, I can finally say that one villain is behind the destruction of the land."

"Really?"

"Yes, so we have two goals here: To defeat this one villain, and to defend the Temple of Time."

"If the rebels are camping out nearby Kakariko Village, they can attack our castle within two days. We mustn't wait a second longer. Link, get the soldiers ready and evacuate all of the villagers. All of them must leave this town by tomorrow. It will become bloodshed."

"I understand."

"By the way, out of curiosity... how old are you?"

"I an currently twenty two."

"I see… someone that young already taking our commander's post. You are doing a very good job. Continue your excellent work."

"Thank you, your majesty." Link then ran off to carry off his duties.

King Hyrule sighed. "If only if Zelda were here… But I'm sure she has more important duties at the time."

* * *

"Fox…" said Ness. 

"Yeah?"

"Because of your heart conditions, we have to wait for another week for you to fully recover."

"Not very surprising. I went through an interesting ordeal yesterday, you know?"

"I was kinda freaked out, when you use a thin staff and you used it to cut down a huge robot… I was impressed."

"I was impressed when you four took out that enormous dinosaur in seconds."

"It was nothing. We do it all the time."

Fox shrugged. "Well when is Doctor Andonuts going to prepare the teleportation device?"

Ness frowned. "That's the problem. When he fully prepares it, we only have ten seconds to use it. Afterwards, we'll have to spend another two weeks of gathering materials."

"So? Just use it once I'm fully cured."

"I'm not finished, Fox. The fossil… 'expires' in an hour. So after one hour, we can't use it anymore."

"Then just get another Chomposaur."

Ness chuckled. "You're so impatient. That was the last one. They're extinct now."

"…You're kidding me."

"I'm not joking. We can't get you out of here if you don't get yourself ready in an hour.

So here's the question: Are you willing to continue your quest in your current condition? You have an hour to decide. Once you've decided, come downstairs before the hour's over and tell us."

"You don't have to ask me. You know I'm going to go. No wound is going to stop me."

"Heh… as cocky as ever. Very well, just be careful."

"I will. Get it ready, I'll be downstairs any second. I'll have to give my good byes to your friends…"

"All right."


	20. Chapter 20: Enter the Realm of Pokemon!

Hack: Another unimportant chapter, just there to move the story on. The most important part is Fox's point of view, and I'm sure most of you want to see Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff again. Don't worry, they'll be doing their stuff in Mute City in the next chapter! But the most important quest as of now is the Hyrule arc.

I imagine you'll be seeing your favorite green-shirted guy lots! Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 20: Enter the Realm of Pokemon!  
**

"Fox, are you ready to go?" asked Ness.

Fox nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

Doctor Andonuts frowned. "Are you sure, even in your condition?"

"Definitely."

"Let me warn you, however, that for the next week, you mustn't do any straining activities for at least 15 minutes. If you do, you will receive another heart attack like before. You were lucky that you survived, but I am still thankful for you saving my son and his friends. One last time, are you sure you want to go?"

"Of course."

"There's no telling where you'll land in."

"I've already said my good byes to everyone. I'm all prepared."

Both Ness and the doctor nodded. "Okay then," said Ness. "I guess this is good bye."

"Yeah… Thanks for everything, man," Fox grabbed Ness's hand and shook it. Ness smiled.

"Well see ya. Good luck on your quest out there."

"Yeah, good luck with life here. Same to you, Doctor Andonuts."

"Don't mention it," the doctor replied. He pressed a couple buttons on an enormous capsule and inserted the fossil. "Enter through this door right now, we have ten seconds."

Fox quickly walked into the capsule, waving good bye to Ness and the doctor. The door closed shut, sealing Fox inside the capsule.

"Let's go!" the doctor cried as he pressed another button.

There was a blinding flash of light and it immediately disappeared (the light). Doctor Andonuts opened the door and saw nothing inside.

"The transportation was complete! I hope he lands in a safe place…" he said.

"Yeah… Thanks for helping him out."

"Don't mention it."

However, Fox didn't land in such a safe place.

Well, if you call teleporting right in a middle of a fight with an electric blast coming from one end and a water blast coming from the other a safe place, go ahead. That was exactly what happened to Fox.

"What the…" Fox said before he was struck by both electricity and water.

"Blastoise! Charge in and use your Rapid Spin!"

"Pikachu! Agility!"

A gigantic blue turtle climbed into its own shell and spun. It flew forward, not knowing that Fox was there.

A yellow rat as we all know as Pikachu disappeared and appeared on the back of the Blastoise.

"Use Thunder!" a boy with a red cap yelled.

Electricity pulsed through the Pikachu from the skies and struck the Blastoise. Unfortunately for Fox, Blastoise struck him, causing the electricity to shock both.

"Whoa! What is this? A walking fox is in the middle of the arena!" an announcer cried.

"…huh?" said Pikachu as he finally noticed Fox in the arena.

Fox could only say one thing. "…Ow."

"Fox! What are you doing here? Get out of here right now!" Pikachu cried.

Fox, recognizing Pikachu, didn't hesitate as he swiftly ran through a doorway through a crowd of trainers. He finally reached outside the arena, hiding in the bushes.

"Wow. What was that about," he said to himself. "So I probably landed in Kanto. That means Mewtwo might be here… Nice job, Ness. You've got me to the right place."

He waited there for a while until he heard another uproar from the crowds in the arenas. Hundreds of people came rushing out, not noticing Fox. Fox looked for Pikachu, the only familiar face he saw so far.

"Fox!" Pikachu cried as he spotted Fox. He ran towards Fox in the bushes. "What are you doing here?"

"I just… dropped in. It's a long story."

Pikachu's red-capped trainer came into view. "Pikachu, you know him?" he asked.

Pikachu nodded. "Well tell me everything, Fox. But you have to tell Ash everything too."

"Ash?"

"That guy right next to me. He's my trainer. What you have to know is that you're not from this world, so you can understand me and the other Pokemon. But the humans in this world can't understand us. Ash interprets me as…

Pika Pika! Pikachu!"

"All right, I understand," said Fox. He looked up to Ash. "Don't be scared, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just from another world."

Ash chuckled. "Another world, huh? Very funny."

"Well I can understand everything Pikachu here is saying, and none of you guys can. That's what he told me."

"Really?"

Pikachu jumped on Fox's shoulder. "Tell him that you're one of the smashers."

"Oh yeah," Fox added. "I'm also one of the smashers that Pikachu participated with."

"Well that makes a lot more sense. I had to send Pikachu away for a couple months for this weird… tournament thing. Or something."

Pikachu cutely smiled. "Well, Fox, you've got to tell us everything. How you got here."

Fox sighed. "It's a REALLY long story, you'll definitely want drinks and stuff."

Ash looked puzzled. "What's a really long story?"

"Oh, the reason how I came here."

"Oh! Oh yeah! You have to meet up with my two friends here! Follow me," said Ash as he walked out. He suddenly frowned.

Fox sighed again. "But there's a small problem…"

"Yeah, I just noticed. You're a fox."

"My name IS Fox!"

"Interesting name. But I'll bring my friends here. Pikachu, you can stay with Fox, right?"

Pikachu nodded. "Of course I can, you doofus!"

"Great! I'm going to get Misty and Brock!" Ash ran out to fetch his friends.

"So what's the deal with you pokemon fighting?" Fox asked.

"Oh, it's a battle between two trainers. We have tournaments and stuff here at Kanto. Both trainers send out a pokemon to fight against each other, and whoever loses has to send out his next pokemon. A trainer can only carry six pokemon, so once all six are down, the trainer loses."

"Did Ash win?"

"Of course! We won 6-1, with Heracross going down at the fifth match, so I took over."

"Heracross? Another pokemon?"

"Yeah."

"Hm, all right."

Ash came into view again with two other teenages, a red-haired girl and a spiky-haired boy with lines for his eyes.

"Fox, meet Misty and Brock. Don't get freaked out, he's from another world, a smasher I think."

Misty, the girl, was hiding behind the taller boy. "Are you sure he's not going to… attack us or anything?" she asked.

"Come on! I talked with him, and Pikachu knows him."

"Well I trust Ash," said Brock. "Get over it, Misty!"

"Well… All right."

Ash smiled. "So tell us how you got here. I hope we can help you out."

Fox shrugged. "Well it's nice to meet you two, Misty and Brock. It's a long story, so I suggest you sit down." Pikachu jumped on his shoulder, anxiously listening.

"So get on with it!" he said.

"Okay, Pikachu. So it all started…"

* * *

"I must thank you two for saving me from Agahnim…" Nabooru said. 

"It's no problem," said Luigi.

"I wish I could do something to make up for that…"

"Just getting Zelda's spirit back is more than enough!" said Samus.

"Yeah, I concur," Luigi replied.

"All right, this is the room where I can extract it. Both of you, close your eyes and think of everything you can about Zelda," Nabooru instructed. All three closed their eyes.

"Now, I'm going to summon Zelda's spirit. It might be painful, but you must hold on to it."

BOOM. There was a blinding flash of white light as Luigi and Samus felt searing pain through their bodies. Obeying Nabooru, they continued to focus on Zelda despite the pain they are experiencing.

After ten minutes, the light finally disappeared. Nabooru finally opened her eyes. "You can let go now, Zelda is fine now," she said.

Luigi and Samus opened their eyes. "That was it? It didn't seem like much to me," said Samus.

"Yes, well I did the actual extracting. I needed you two to contain some of the energy extracted, since my body would explode if I did it by myself. Zelda should be conscious in a few hours back at the fortress."

"That was fast," Luigi commented.

"Yes, well I advice you both to hurry back to Gerudo Fortress. I thank you for everything, and I wish you both good luck."

"On what?"

"With Zelda back, you three must head back to Hyrule Castle. Zelda will know what has happened just now, so once you return to the fortress, she will explain everything to you."

"All right… But this seems all rushed. I mean, we spent hours trekking through a desert to come here, just to spend 5 minutes extracting a soul. Are you sure Zelda's fine?" Luigi asked.

"Of course."

"All right, I trust you."

Samus nodded. "We'll be going now. Thank you for everything, Nabooru."

"No, thank you."

* * *

The following day after the end of training… 

"So, Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff," said Gaspar. "You're both prepared, right?"

"Dude, there isn't anything at all to prepare, Gaspar!" said Falcon. "We didn't bring any damn thing, you know!"

"Ah, I forgot. Well this portal will send you two to Mute City." Gaspar pointed his finger to a black hole in the floor.

"Really? Well I have to hand it to you all, you've really helped us get stronger," said Falcon.

"Yeah, thank you for everything!" cried Jigglypuff.

"Okay then. I'm sure we'll be seeing you two again, along with your three friends, so it's not good bye yet," said Gaspar. "What are you waiting for? Move on with your adventure!"

Falcon and Jigglypuff nodded as they both jumped into the black portal, not knowing what awaits them on Mute City. (Keep in mind they're the most clueless about the Ring of Darkness) Of course, we all have a big clue on who's waiting there.

Falcon closed his eyes as he felt his body being transported. _Damn, it's been a long journey. I really hope the other three are doing fine… Fox, Luigi, and my baby, Samus… Damn. I actually miss all of them. This journey really split us apart. I think I really lost hope in being reunited with them._

_No, Falcon, don't think that!_

…_Jigglypuff, you can read my mind?_

_I don't know how, but it seems like I can. But you have to be confident._

…_I'm not being my usual cocky self. Heh._

_I second that._

_But I feel like I gave up hope. Especially being back with Fox. Luigi and Samus we were with pretty recently, actually. But it seems like years since we last saw Fox._

_Yeah… I really miss them too. But we can't give up hope._

_We're miles apart. No, planets apart. But I guess you're right, man._

_Tee hee…_

_Well then, Jiggly, you ready for whatever is waiting for us in my hometown?_

_Of course!_

_Remember about your new abilities. If you don't use them, you just wasted a fucking week of your life doing nothing. Remember them. And your rest attack, obviously._

_Right._

_

* * *

_

"Zelda, are you all right?" Luigi asked.

"Yes… I must thank you for bringing me back here because of that Veran."

"It's really no problem. Onox and Veran were idiots," said Samus.

"We also took out this weird wizard named Agahnim in the Spirit Temple," Luigi explained. "He wasn't close to being as powerful as Onox and Veran. He also mentioned that Vaati was his master."

Zelda gasped. "So Agahnim was the third general… That means Vaati is alone! His evil forces have been severely weakened!"

"That's certainly good news…"

"Excellent! But we must venture back to Hyrule Castle. It's another two days from the fortress to get back. Then I must help my father and Link plan out the defenses, while you two must search for Vaati."

"Wait, Vaati could be anywhere in this world, we'd have to search every inch of Hyrule to find him!" exclaimed Luigi.

"Yes, but a messenger informed me that in two days, the rebels will launch a final assault on our castle. Vaati will undoubtedly be nearby to look over the battle and make sure everything is going his way. Don't worry, Link will definitely help you."

"Link… Didn't see him for a long time," said Luigi.

"Yeah, he's a cool guy," Samus replied.

"But we must leave as soon as possible. But I must ask, where is Ganondorf? I have not seen him in this fortress…"

"He's bringing his offensive troops to Hyrule Castle to help defend it," said Samus.

"Excellent! We can use all the troops we need to protect the Triforce! Well we must leave now after I give my thanks to the Gerudos for treating me."

The two Gerudo guards smiled. "It's certainly a pleasure to help the princess of Hyrule," one of them said.

"Thank you very much, but I'm afraid I have nothing to give you for helping me."

"No, it's okay, princess. Just helping you and our king is enough to satisfy us."

"Very well. You both are good people. Now, Luigi and Samus. Let us venture to Hyrule Castle!"

"All right, it's another two days of boredom!" said Samus. Luigi groaned.

"Don't mention that again…"


	21. Chapter 21: The F Zero GP

Hack: Spent a bit of time editing the first twenty chapters, which explains why this update was a bit late.

This chapter will be focused on Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff in Mute City. Bear with me if I make a mistake about the characters and setting in Mute City, because to be honest, I am most unfamiliar with F-Zero games (everything else I'm fine with, even Fire Emblem!). Only F-Zero game I played are F-Zero on SNES and F-Zero GP Legend on GBA. (a little of the Gamecube version too) I'm also bsing some of the stuff in this arc, since I have nothing else more interesting. So… Yeah, enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 21: The F-Zero GP**

Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff finally appeared in what seemed to be a large mansion. Both stood up and Falcon smiled.

"Looks like we ended up in my mansion," he said. Jigglypuff smiled as well.

"That's great then!"

"But we've got no damn time to rest, so let's go out there and hunt down those Endowment of Exigency users!"

Falcon led Jigglypuff to the exit of the mansion when he suddenly stopped. Jigglypuff stopped as well.

"Don't you have any lead on where to look?" she asked.

"…Actually, not at all. It'll probably be someone that has a huge grudge against me like Cackletta did to Luigi. Samurai Goroh? Or possibly Black Shadow, Blood Falcon, or Deathborn, all dangerous beings except for Goroh. But let's just walk out, I think we'll find out soon enough."

He pressed a button, causing the door to slide open. The door leads to a crowded city of gray, metal futuristic buildings. Flying cars flew everywhere as if they were the people's everyday modes of transportation.

"Wow… this is huge…" Jigglypuff gasped.

"Yup, my world is probably has the most advanced technology out of all our worlds, though it's not really that much of a good thing. Here's a teleportation device here…"

Falcon stood on what seemed to be a large circle. Jigglypuff followed him, entering the circle. Falcon pressed a couple buttons on the control panel of the teleportation device.

"Looks like there's a new grand prix tomorrow!"

"Er, Falcon? We're not here to race, you know…"

"Yeah, but I still want to at least get my vehicle. Plus, the grand prix is usually the best way to track someone down. Anyone that might have some of the Endowment of Exigency will definitely go in this Grand Prix. Actually, _everyone_ goes in the grand prix. Only 32 people can enter, though celebrities and bounty hunters like me get first pick. And looks like I got in."

"So what am I going to do while you race?"

"You're going to come with me."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, it seems like I'm dragging you with me into some fun. Well yeah, it is pretty fun to race, but the most important reason is to track down that damn culprit in the GP (Grand Prix). Don't worry, I'm a pro at racing." He winked at Jigglypuff.

"Okay, I guess I'll trust you…"

"You gotta be more confident, Jiggly! Anyways, what I need you to do is to observe these certain cars." He gave Jigglypuff a sheet of paper with four car designs.

"Those are the top suspects that will definitely be joining this GP. I need you to keep an eye on them while I drive my car. Tell me if any of them does anything suspicious, and what their darn suspicious activities are."

"In the middle of the race?"

"Of course, Jiggly! You're just going to ride the same car as me, right behind my seat. I'll explain the races to you. We might as well hide back in my mansion before anyone spots me and draws an audience."

Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff silently walked back into the mansion. "The races here in Mute City are HUGE. Thirty two cars in one race track. That's a lot. In each GP, there are five races, and we use a different track for each race. We lap around that track five times. At the end of each race, the racers in the second half are kicked out. So in the first race, everyone from 17th place and below are kicked out. In the second race, everyone from 9th place and below are kicked out. Eventually, it'll be a race between two racers."

"Okay…" Jigglypuff muttered, trying to absorb everything Falcon is explaining.

"So in each race, every car has something called their power. If your power runs out, or you fall off the stage, your vehicle will blow up and it's the damn end for you. Your car loses power if you crash into something or you use a boost, which speeds you up like crazy. To regain power, you just have to drive over a refreshing area, which will slowly recover your power. That's all that in a nutshell to our racing!"

"Okay, that's not too complicated…"

"Oh yeah, there's something called a slide attack where a car… attacks another car by sliding into it. It really kills your power if you get hit by one, so if you feel a big jolt in the car, that's some asshole sliding into my car.

All right, let's get a little rest for the GP tomorrow, Jigglypuff."

"No, I think I'll go train outside…"

"You sure?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay then, just don't get yourself killed."

"Okay, I won't…"

Captain Falcon smiled as he walked into the bathroom to take a bath. Jigglypuff walked out of the mansion. Jigglypuff closed her eyes. _How did it go again…_ "Agility…"

* * *

Captain Falcon took off his mask after locking the door. He made sure the entire room was sealed before taking off all of his tight suit. 

"Damn, it's been a while since I took a bath… Heck, it's been months since I took off my mask. It hides my true identity, dude…"

He climbed into the bathtub, turning on the hot water. Steam flowed out as he laid himself on the bathtub floor.

"Ahhh…. This feels really good… Been a long time since I've been back… I need to meet up with those others as well…"

…_What the hell, I never even talk with them much. I just save their asses here and there._

_Heck, Jack Levin's probably more popular than me by now. It's not surprise, all the gals think he's a sexy beast._

_Ha, Rick Wheeler, that noob… He probably got a lot better by now. I need to get myself warmed up again so I won't lose._

_Samurai Goroh, that little snob. He'll definitely need to change some things to beat me. I've seen his car, it sucks BIG TIME. I can't believe he proclaimed himself as my rival, that little ass…_

_Sigh, I don't feel like thinking about others…_

He sighed. "It's been a long week… Wait."

He looked up, feeling someone's presence in the room. He quickly got out of the bathtub, dried himself with a towel and put his suit back on. He placed his mask and his helmet on his head as he continued to stare up at the ceiling.

_It must be him…_

Captain Falcon crouched under a bath table and sunk into the shadows of the ground. Immediately, two people appeared in the bathtub. One of them was stomping into whatever he can step on.

"Take THAT and THAT and THAT and… Huh?"

"You fool, Blood Falcon, Captain Falcon must have disappeared," another dark voice said. "It was because of you that he noticed our presence."

"Pah, shut up you snob of a shadow. I don't see you doing any better, Black Shadow!"

The two figures emerged from the steam: a red-suited man with a violet helmet and a black devil-like man. Strangely, the red man strongly resembled Captain Falcon.

"Well I suppose we will be seeing him tomorrow at the grand prix…"

"Remember that we must defeat him in the GP. I know how his mind works. I knew he'd join the GP since he wants to hunt us down."

"Well he'll certainly get his wish then!"

"Yes. Beat him in the GP. We must destroy his car in the few two races. He is extremely reliant on the crowd, so if we destroy his self-confidence, we can easily defeat him. Then the pokemon will be easy with the two of us."

"But you're the one with that power…"

"Why are we conversing in here?" Black Shadow interrupted. "We must head back to our HQ and meet up with Wolf and Alex to set up our plans with the hostages."

Both men disappeared and Captain Falcon slowly emerged from the shadows again, awestruck. "…That was really easy to figure out. Black Shadow, eh? Not so damn surprising…"

* * *

One day passed as the day of the new GP arrived. Captain Falcon woke up with a start and ran into the living room, finding Jigglypuff lying down on the ground. 

"Jiggly, man! What did you do, train yourself to death?"

She panted. "I finally got two more abilities… It'll be worth it," she said.

"It better damn be worth it, you look like you're about to die, damn it!"

"Sorry…"

"Well you better get some sleep while riding my shoulder. I'll just pretend you're my good luck charm or something."

"Okay…"

Captain Falcon, carrying Jigglypuff on his shoulder, walked on the teleportation device outside of his mansion. He typed in a couple commands and he and Jigglypuff disappeared.

They both appeared in what seemed to be a metal corridor with people screaming at one blond haired man in a blue suit.

"There's Jack Levin right there, Jiggly. He's a popular guy, supposedly super handsome," Falcon quietly pointed out. He pointed to another racer. "And that is Jody Summer, a beautiful lady!" he sighed. The female racer had a red suit on with long brown hair.

"There's Rick Wheeler, a newbie at racing but he's been doing nothing but getting better all the time," Falcon pointed at another blond guy, this time with vertical, spiky hair.

"That's Samurai Goroh, the git whose dream is to beat me at a race." He pointed at a big, muscular man with sunglasses. Goroh finally noticed Captain Falcon and glared at him, walking towards him.

"You, Captain Falcon, are going to go down in this GP!" he declared.

"And you, Samurai Goroh, have said that for the millionth time," Falcon replied.

"Shut up! I'm going to meet you at the finals!"

Falcon sighed. Jigglypuff silently sat on his shoulder. "How come nobody noticed me?" she silently asked.

"Well racers bring these kind of things, good luck charms and stuff. I guess everyone just thinks of you as one of them. Be thankful nobody noticed that you're alive."

"That is Blood Falcon right there, that asshole who stole some of my DNA. He's technically me, except evil and works for Black Shadow," he pointed at Blood Falcon, who was walking by. The moment Blood Falcon passed by Captain Falcon, he glared at him. He gave a glare that said, _I'm going to get you, Captain Falcon…_

Captain Falcon got the message, but simply shrugged. He pointed to another man for Jigglypuff. "That is Blood Falcon's boss, Black Shadow. He's got really weird powers, but he's just another wimpy racer that always loses."

Jigglypuff looked at Black Shadow and her insides instantly froze as she met eyes with him.

_He knows me… I can tell…_ Jigglypuff simply sat still on Falcon's shoulder, giving no signs of weakness.

Captain Falcon silently introduced Jigglypuff to several other key racers, including Daigoroh, Samurai Goroh's son, John Tanaka, a mechanic of the Space Federation, Dr. Stewart, a heroic doctor, and Lisa Brilliant, Goroh's ex-wife.

Falcon walked into the car shelter and pressed a few buttons on the wall. Instantly, his favorite car, the Blue Falcon, appeared in front of him.

"Here's the Blue Falcon, my car," he said. The door opened as Captain Falcon hopped in. Jigglypuff finally moved, jumping off of Falcon's shoulder and into the back seat.

"Yeah, it's going to be pretty damn cramped in there, sorry about that Jiggly."

"It's okay…" she whispered.

"All right, I know who has the Endowment of Exigency. Blood Falcon and Black Shadow jumped in on me while I was taking a bath last night, but I hid in the shadows so no harm done. Black Shadow is the one that we want to take out."

"So how will we take him out?"

"Easy. I'm going to slide attack into him when I get the chance. I definitely won't get the chance in the first two races. The best time to do it is in the fourth race. So in the fourth race, I need you to get ready to literally jump out of the car."

"Wait, JUMP?"

"Yeah, Jiggly. Sorry, but it's the only way we've got. You have to be careful, we'll be driving at over thousands of kilometers per hour."

"So…"

"I'll open the windows so you can get ready. At the exact moment I hit Black Shadow's car, I need you to use rollout to speed through the open window and into Black Shadow's car through his window."

"All right…"

"Then just do your stuff. Beat the shit out of him. I'll have to get us into the fourth race to begin with, but it'll be no problem."

"Okay, sounds like a plan to me."

"You ready, Jiggly?" Captain Falcon started the engines. "We're going to go out into the racetrack, the official race should start in ten minutes."

"Okay!"

"Just hang on tight, Jiggly!"

* * *

"We're finally back…" Luigi panted. 

"That was… extremely damn boring," Samus also panted.

"Yes, well what is important is that we have finally arrived at Hyrule Castle," Zelda replied.

The familiar castle appeared before the three. "Something's not right… I feel a completely different atmosphere…" said Luigi.

Zelda lead the three into the beautiful Hyrule Castle. Soldiers at the side of the halls consistently bowed down to her as the three passed them. Finally, Zelda led them to the throne room, with the King.

"Father, I've returned," she said.

"Ah, Zelda, my daughter!" said King Hyrule. "How have your errands gone?"

"Excellent! We've taken out all three sub-commanders of the hidden troops: Veran, Onox, and Agahnim. We owe it all to Luigi and Samus here."

The grand King turned to the two smashers. "So you are the two smashers that helped Zelda? I must thank you for everything, but this is not the time."

"Yes, I had a prophecy of what will happen in a few hours."

"About the final battle of the war?"

"Yes, father."

Luigi interrupted. "Please excuse me, but have you seen Link?"

The King paused. "Ah, yes… Link. He's out getting the troops ready for battle."

"Really? What a disappointment, but what needs to be done has to be done," said Luigi.

"Well we might as well rest for an hour or so before hunting Vaati down," said Samus.

"So the real culprit is Vaati?" the King asked.

"Yes," Zelda replied. "He will definitely be lurking somewhere in the darkness in this final battle. I leave it to Luigi, Samus, and Link to hunt him down."

* * *

"Archers up front on the wall!" Link cried out, walking past each archer in the rain in the darkness. "I want to see all of you ready in two minutes. Spearmen, frontlines in the town. Get ready to attack in case the rebels break through! Archers, remember to shoot flame arrows at the towers!" 

Link looked off at the horizon. The sun was setting, giving an aura of orange darkness in the skies. He frowned.

_Is it just me or do I see an army marching here?_

He squinted his eyes to stare off at the horizon again. The ground he stood on started to lightly rumble as he heard jeers and cheers from miles away.

_Oh my god… This is NOT good!_

"Everyone, get ready for combat!" he called.

"Why?" an archer asked. "Aren't they going to attack…"

"Right now! They're coming right now! Archers, stand at your posts! I see several towers that the rebels are using to get into the castle, so take them down with flame arrows! Everyone else, guard this door! We must not let them get in! It looks like they're going all out on this door."

Zelda, Luigi, and Samus came out of the castle. "What's happening?" Samus asked.

All three looked up to see Link running towards them. "Link! What's going on?" Zelda called out.

"They're attacking right now. I need to head for the eastern entrance to give orders to the soldiers there."

"Link…" said Luigi. "It's been a while."

Link paused. "Yes it has, Luigi and Samus. This definitely isn't the time to be catching up, you two need to go find Vaati. I have an idea though. Zelda, stay in the castle, we can't afford to have you in any danger, neither the king. Follow me, you two."

Link ran towards another drawbridge of the deserted town with Luigi and Samus following him. "I'm going to sneak you two out through this drawbridge. I think the rebels are all attacking the central drawbridge, going all out, so I posted three quarters of our soldiers to guard it. You two can sneak out through here and look for Vaati."

"What about you, Link?" Samus asked.

"This battle came upon us too suddenly, we were caught by surprise. I need to stay here to guard the Temple of Time. Sorry, you two," Link apologetically answered.

"It's okay, we can still find Vaati and put an end to this war," said Luigi. "Good luck, Link."

"Good luck to you… _WHAT THE…_"

As soon as the drawbridge fell open, several rebels stood before them, preparing themselves to attack the town.

"What's happening? Did they send more troops over to the sides that are… Shoot…" said Link. "Their plan was to fake us out by attacking the central entrance then split their troops in half and sent each half to the unguarded drawbridges."

"That was a smart move…" said Luigi.

The rebels charged, attacking Link, Samus, and Luigi. Link drew his sword, "You two have to get through these rebels and exit the town, then find Vaati. I have to go to the Temple of Time, that place is completely unguarded!"

"But…"

"GO!" Samus and Luigi ran through the army of rebels, dodging every attack they threw. Link ran back, calling out, "Everyone, into the town! Defend the Temple with your lives!"

Link grunted as he ran towards the Temple of Time. _This is not a good thing…_


	22. Chapter 22: Seven Years

Hack: Another chapter, focused on the Hyrule war. This chapter's for Link! Cheer for the awesome Link!

* * *

**Chapter 22: Seven Years**

"This is not boding very well at all…" said King Hyrule.

"Yes…" replied Zelda. "The rebels easily passed through our borders. We need our soldiers to guard the castle and send some to guard the Temple of Time. What of Link?"

"A messenger reported that Link succeeded in sneaking Luigi and Samus out, but he must guard the Temple of Time himself now."

"…I must go down and meet with him. I have a bad feeling about him guarding it by himself."

The King paused. "…Okay, but be careful. If you die, you know what will happen to the nation."

"Yes, I know of the consequences, father."

"Then go, and do not let your magic go to waste."

* * *

"This is really suspicious," said Samus as they stood hidden near the eastern drawbridge. 

"How?" Luigi asked.

"Because, I heard the King say that Link was an excellent tactician. But he lowered the drawbridge to let us out, just to let in rebels at the same time. Do you think Link is on the rebel's side?"

"…I don't know."

"I think we should head to the Temple of Time, just to check. You remember the way?"

"Of course," said Luigi. "But are you sure you're just not overreacting?"

"Overreacting? Of course not."

"You probably aren't thinking of something like Link using us to get the Triforce then, right?"

Use… That word rang through Samus's ears.

_Use… Fuck that._

"Maybe," said Samus. "But it still wouldn't hurt for us to check."

"All right then. Let's go," Luigi replied. The two turned around and ran back through the Eastern Drawbridge, blasting away rebels that got in the way.

* * *

Link smirked. The rebels were finally able to get in. "You all, keep the soldiers away from the Temple of Time. I know where it is, and I'm the only one able to get into the Sacred Realm here. With it, I shall help all of you," he said. The rebels behind him separated to draw away the royal armies as Link ran towards the Temple of Time. 

"I'm the only one that can do this… This is for Hyrule," he said to himself as he finally reached the Temple of Time. "Now it's time…" he walked into the hallow white halls and placed the three shining sacred stones in the keyholes, the keys to opening the door.

He took out a blue ocarina and placed his lips on it. _Now it's time for the Song of Time to open this door…_

He paused. He put away his ocarina and turned around, just to see himself.

The other Link looked puzzled. "I knew someone was going to come in here, but I never knew that it was going to be someone like me… I'm going to guard the Temple of Time with my life," he said.

"My older self, you don't know how much I've grown…" said Young Link, the leader of the rebels.

"How surprising, my own self except seven years younger made it through. You know I'm still more powerful than you."

"Keep your mouth shut. All I want is the Triforce, then I'm going to heal this land. You guys are too selfish for yourselves."

"You know what's going to happen? Once you take the Triforce, Vaati is going to come in here and take it for himself. That is what he's planning!"

"Vaati? Don't make me laugh. The land is simply dying. Why would Vaati want the Triforce? He's already dead!"

"Dead men come back all the time," said Elder Link. "But I see that arguing will get us nowhere. How old are you now? Fifteen?"

"Yes, and I look a lot like you now. You didn't really grow in three years."

"Because I've been an adult. Pretty strange that my younger self looks exactly like me now, even though we're seven years apart."

"Heh… But we have different objectives, so I must stop you now."

Elder Link smirked. "Try me."

Both drew long swords and charged, Elder Link wielding the golden heavy Big Goron Sword, and Young Link wielding the rainbow Great Fairy's Sword. Here's how the intense sword fight went:

Elder Link threw a quick horizontal slash at Young Link.

Young Link blocked it with his shield and threw his sword in a low stab under his shield, aimed at Elder Link's legs.

Elder Link lightly hopped to avoid the sword and spun around, swinging his sword at Young Link's neck.

Young Link bent his chest and head back, narrowly avoiding the horizontal slash. He held his shield behind him and threw his sword in a vertical slash upwards.

Elder Link swung around with his shield and blocked it. He quickly short hopped and lightly kicked Young Link in the face with a powerful sex kick, knocking him back.

Young Link threw his leg upwards, kneeing Elder Link in the stomach hard.

Elder Link coughed as he jumped over Young Link, facing his back from ten feet away. He drew his bow and quickly charged a shining light arrow, aiming it at the back of Young Link's head.

Young Link quickly whirled around and rolled forwards, avoiding the light arrow passing overheard, and found himself directly in front of Elder Link.

"You're not the only one that can use magic, you know…" said Young Link as he held his open palm directly in front of Elder Link's face. He released his magic, causing a blast of fire to release from his palm and engulf Elder Link's head.

"Yes, but you probably forgot about this too," Elder Link said as a blue diamond shield protected him from the fire. He swiftly threw his sword at Young Link's stomach. Young Link raised his knee and landed a well-placed kick on the hilt of the sword about to impale him. The Big Goron sword was knocked out of Elder Link's hand, causing it to slide away on the marble floor.

Link quickly dived for his sword, but the moment he landed on the ground, his hands grabbed on nothing. Young Link had knocked the Big Goron's sword away with his hookshot. He held another weapon in his other hand, the boomerang, and accurately threw it at the Big Goron's sword. It somehow picked up the sword, bringing it back to Young Link.

"What are you going to do now?" he teased at his elder self. "You are unarmed now."

Elder Link smirked. "Not yet."

CLANG

Elder Link swung an enormous metal hammer at Young Link, who instinctively blocked it with his Great Fairy's sword.

"I still have the Megaton Hammer, you know," said Elder Link, bringing the hammer back.

"Not bad! I still have more tricks up my sleeve though!"

Young Link drew a blue cape on his back and jumped upwards towards the ceiling. He drew his own bow, getting ready to snipe away at Elder Link while flying.

"The Roc's Cape is a very useful tool," he said as he quickly shot at Elder Link with his arrows.

Elder Link side stepped every arrow as he closed his eyes, muttering words.

"Farore's Wind!" he cried as a green burst of wind emerged from his body. He quickly ran towards the wall, and suddenly started to run up the wall with insane speeds! He found himself running on the ceiling, right next to Young Link.

And he reached Young Link within half a second, so Young Link didn't expect it.

Link grabbed his hammer and smashed it into Young Link's back, breaking half of his ribs. Young Link's cape fell off as he crashed to the ground on his back, breaking even more bones.

"Ugh…" he groaned as Elder Link jumped next to his Big Goron Sword and grabbed it.

"You said that I was unarmed? Think again," he said as he charged at the vulnerable teenager, ready to smash his Megaton Hammer on Young Link's head. Young Link quickly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blow that would've smashed his skull. The hammer struck the ground, leaving an enormous crack in the marble floor.

Young Link jumped back on his feet, painfully staggering. He ran towards Elder Link, wielding his Great Fairy's Sword. Elder Link drew his Big Goron Sword in his other hand, wielding two weapons at once, and blocked Young Link. He swung his hammer at Young Link's sword, knocking it away.

Elder Link quickly ran for Young Link's sword, sheathing his Megaton Hammer. The moment he stood over the Great Fairy's Sword, he suddenly found himself away from it, right where Young Link once stood!

"You have to love the Switch Hook," said Young Link, pocketing the Switch Hook that allowed him to switch places with Elder Link. He grabbed his Great Fairy's sword and smirked. "You also have to love the bomb I placed right there before switching."

BOOM. There was an explosion right where Elder Link stood, blowing his body into the wall. The explosion was so powerful that Elder Link's body left a cracked imprint on the white wall.

Young Link quickly drew his bow and charged his own light arrow, aimed at Elder Link's head. He fired, letting the yellow shining arrow fly. Elder Link quickly rolled forward, holding his chest in pain as the light arrow passed by overhead. He grabbed his own bow and shot an arrow at Young Link's feet. Young Link quickly shot hopped to avoid the arrow.

Elder Link smirked. "Sorry, but that was an ice arrow," he said, looking down at a small frozen section of the floor that his arrow just struck. Young Link landed on the icy section of the floor and slipped, falling to the ground on his back. Elder Link charged, preparing to stab Young Link.

"Excellent! Excellent! What an inspiring fight!" someone clapped. Vaati the violet midget sorcerer appeared in the Temple of Time, right next to Link. Elder Link suddenly stopped his sword, millimeters away from Young Link's neck. He quickly turned around, pointing his sword at Vaati.

"Vaati! I knew it was you all along!" he yelled.

"Hmph! Of course, you twins. I made this nation into what it is right now with the Endowment of Exigency."

"Endowment of what?" both Links asked.

"Never mind! But to the point, I lured you, Young Link, into gathering the Sacred Stones and opening the Temple of Time. With the weakened Master Sword, I can finally get into the Sacred Realm. But with you two in the way, I have to kill you."

"Are you kidding me? Young Link here defeated you in one on one combat, how do you think you can defeat us both?"

Elder Link turned to Young Link, who was standing up again. His jaw fell wide. He couldn't believe that it was Vaati who was behind all this.

"But how… What…" he could only stutter.

"Well both of you are weakened from your current fight. I guess it'll be really easy beating you guys up!" cried Vaati. He held both of his hands up into the air, with open palms. A black hole appeared right below both Links and sucked them in. A moment later, it spat them out, successfully sucking away all of their energy.

Neither Link could stand. Both were unconscious right there. "Well I suppose that was a piece of cake," said Vaati as he kicked the carcasses aside. "I so want to kill that younger brat, but I can't tell them apart, and I have business to deal with. What the…"

Vaati quickly jumped, narrowly jumping over the explosion of a super missile. Samus and Luigi came running in.

"I told you, Luigi!" she said.

"Fine! But we've got things to take care of! It's Vaati!"

"Oh, it's you two. The ones that our reports showed. The ones that took down Ridley and Cackletta."

"So what of it?" Samus replied.

"Well I will be rewarded if I defeat the both of you, and I doubt that you'll let me pass through into the Sacred Realm," said Vaati.

"Damn straight."

"No way you're going to go in," said Luigi.

"We'll see about that!" cried Vaati. He held his hands up into the air, causing another black hole to appear below Samus and Luigi.

They weren't stupid enough to fall for the same trick they witnessed seconds ago.

Both smashers jumped in opposite directions, and wall jumped off of the walls. They flew toward the hovering Vaati from both side.

Samus stuck her long leg out in a sex kick, directed at Vaati's head. Luigi threw a quickly karate chop at Vaati's legs. Vaati swiftly curled into a ball, dodging both assaults and landed on the ground.

"Sorry, but that part of the floor's ice," said Luigi as Vaati slipped the moment he landed on the icy section of the floor. "Samus! Now!" he cried.

"Sonic Boom!" Samus released the familiar Sonic Boom attack from the charged Annihilator Beam shot, but Vaati created a barrier to block the attack.

"You're both pretty annoying fighters, aren't you?" he said, rolling backwards with his small body.

"Of course," said Luigi. "We're meant to be annoying to the Ring of Darkness." He released a straight beam of fire at Vaati, who jumped high to avoid it.

_Hyper Mode…_

Samus appeared right where Vaati was and spiked him into the ground with a powerful punch. Luigi jumped towards Vaati and landed an accurate drill kick, pounding him into the ground. Vaati released another dark barrier, expelling Luigi out with considerable force. Luigi was blasted into the wall, like Elder Link was blasted by Young Link's bomb.

Vaati quickly dashed up to Luigi and grabbed him by the chest, releasing dark energy through his body. He dropped Luigi, unconscious and without any life. He whirled around to face Samus with a charged plasma beam shot in his face.

"Take this!" she cried as she released her beam. Vaati took the full blow in his stomach, feeling singing burns everywhere on his body.

"SHIT!" he cried as he staggered. He quickly jumped away to avoid another plasma shot, firing his own dark arrows.

Samus jumped into the dark arrows, turning on her Screw Attack.

…But the dark arrows pierced through her attack! Luckily, her silver armor suit protected her from the dark arrows, though it suffered some damage.

"Geez, you're one tough girl…" said Vaati.

"You're not bad either," Samus replied, panting.

"Well it's time for one interesting fight, girl!"


	23. Chapter 23: The Fight for Hyrule

Hack: Yay! Samus has her own solo fight! I think it's pretty cool, but you'll have to image it in your own head. Some people will also like the ending of this chapter… Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 23: The Fight for Hyrule**

Vaati smirked. "So you must have been the one that defeated Ridley."

"So what about it?" Samus replied, looking at her three downed comrades, Luigi and the two Links.

"He must have had some stuff to say to you before you killed him…"

"So what about it?" Samus repeated.

"…Well I was just wondering. But remember that because of him, you have that new suit."

Samus looked down at her silver suit.

"Do you know how it happened?" Vaati asked.

"…No. Not at all. What happened? Tell me!"

"It's simple. Ridley gave you the rest of the Endowment of Exigency he had in himself."

Samus gasped, then quickly took a step back. "No way… I have a power… that killed countless people?"

"Not enough to make yourself very powerful, but just enough to power yourself up," Vaati answered. "But with the Endowment of Exigency, you might be able to join us."

He held out a hand. "Would you ever consider it?"

Samus paused. _What… How could I… I've been used… But I can't back off now…_

_Use…_

"Hell no," she said as she shot a super missile at Vaati. The sorcerer jumped to the side, glaring at her.

"Hmph, so be that way!" He released the familiar black hole right where Samus stood, who wasn't stupid enough to fall for the same trick she saw for the third time. She quickly rolled forward and released another charged plasma beam shot downwards at Vaati's face. Vaati swiftly ducked to avoid it and threw his short legs at Samus's stomach, causing her to stumble. He closed his eyes, causing four flying black winged eyes to circle him.

Samus quickly jumped back on her feet and aimed her arm cannon at Vaati. She shot another super missile at him, but the barrier created by the floating eyes deflected it back at her! She quickly jumped over it to avoid her own attack.

"What the hell are those?" she asked.

"Why should I tell you? Finding out your opponent's weakness is the fun part of fighting anyways!" Vaati answered. He spun around once, sending black laser beams flying in every angle possible. Samus could only brace herself for impact, feeling the beams piercing through her silver armor suit and through her skin.

"Just because you're a girl doesn't mean I'll take it easy on you!" said Vaati.

"That's a good thing, I just hate sexist crap like that," Samus replied, staggering.

She switched her arm cannon's beam function and ran towards Vaati. She fired another super missile at him, causing him to jump up into the air to avoid it. Vaati quickly shot another dark arrow with his hand, but Samus wavedashed out of the way, firing another super missile. Vaati could do nothing except rise even higher into the air, his head almost touching the ceiling.

"Ice Spreader!" Samus cried, firing a huge blast of ice at Vaati. Vaati hovered to the side to avoid the blast, creating a gargantuan icicle on the ceiling (one that's bigger than three Bowsers!)

Vaati swiftly fell from the ceiling and towards Samus, holding his hand out. He released a black of darkness at Samus, who just curled into ball mode and rolled out of the way.

"A little ball, huh?" said Vaati. "Pretty interesting suit there!"

He heard an explosion and quickly glided forward, narrowly avoiding a power bomb. Samus (in a ball) boosted towards Vaati and planted another bomb, a blue one much smaller. Vaati could do nothing as he glided in the same direction again. Samus repeated the same maneuver two more times then curled out of ball mode.

"Take this!" she cried, firing another super missile. Vaati jumped into the air, halfway up to the ceiling. Samus switched to her plasma beam and fired a quick beam of magma. Vaati hovered downwards, avoiding burns.

Samus smiled. "Sorry, but you're about to get really wet," she said as she watched the enormous icicle melt within milliseconds from her plasma beam shot. A torrent of water gushed down onto Vaati, pushing him into the ground with force ten times more powerful than a fire hydrant. Once all of the water fell on the ground, Vaati was lying in the ground in a small pool of water.

Vaati jumped back onto his feet, completely drenched though not in too much pain. "That was your strategy? Getting me wet?"

"Be careful, water conducts electricity."

It took Vaati a second to get what Samus was about to do. He quickly rolled to the side, in hopes of avoiding an electrical attack.

Unfortunately for the little sorcerer, Samus used her Wavebuster combo, which is a huge beam of electricity that homes in on any target. The Wavebuster attack curved through the air, around the puddle of water, and zapped Vaati from behind, piercing through the barrier and shocking every square inch of his body. Smoke steamed from his mouth as he stood there, still being electrocuted.

Samus withdrew her combo attack, mostly because she ran out of missiles. "Shit…" she muttered as she noticed the zero on her missile count on her visor. Vaati recovered from the shocking attack and whirled around to Samus.

"I only got caught by surprise. A pretty neat plan, I guess. But there's no way you'll get past my barrier now!" he said, the four eyes hovering in front of him.

"Try me." Samus dashed up in front of Vaati and threw a quick kick at one of the eyes, destroying it. Vaati glided backwards and created a long arrow of darkness in his right hand, wielding it as a spear. Samus took this chance to fire a plasma beam shot, destroying another eye. Vaati slid towards Samus and swung his spear, forcing her to jump back. He continued to swing at her, pushing Samus towards the wall. The two eyes left released a black laser each to different sides of Samus, preventing Samus from escaping from the sides. Vaati moved in and thrusted his spear through Samus's stomach, piercing through her armor again.

"Ugh!" she cried as Vaati drew his spear away and prepared to swing again. Grabbing her own stomach, Samus shot out her grappling beam at Vaati's hand and brought it back towards the wall, sticking the dark spear in the wall. With Vaati's body now close by, Samus threw a powerful kick in his chest, knocking him to the ground several feet away. Samus jumped once with the Screw Attack, destroying both eyes. When she landed, the hole in her suit caused by the spear disappeared!

How convenient… 

She began to run towards Vaati. Vaati released four more eyeballs, creating another barrier. "At this rate," he began to say, "you'll never be able to get past my eyes!"

When Samus was halfway across the room, her body suddenly turned sky blue, activating her Speed Booster skill. She started to run at the speed of sound, crashing through Vaati's barrier and through his body.

"Shit!" he cried, falling to the ground on his back. Samus stopped her Speed Booster and wall jumped off the wall nearby. She aimed her arm cannon at Vaati and released a charge plasma beam shot.

The four eyeballs around Vaati suddenly formed a square, creating a mirror that deflected the shot. The plasma beam shot returned to Samus, burning off the skin and the suit on her arm. She clutched her arm, feeling the singing pain, and gritting her teeth.

"I told you, there isn't a way around my eyes!" said Vaati. "Destroy them, then I create them again with my magic!"

"Ugh…"

"You've been a pretty persistent brat up to now. I think I'm going to have to end this right now!" he said. A black hole appeared blow Vaati, swallowing him.

"What the hell…? Where did he go?" said Samus. A black hole appeared under her, and Samus jumped to the side in time to avoid it. What emerged from the black hole was an enormous red eye surrounded by black dark substance. The darkness formed two long arms with yellow claws at the ends. The big eye itself was about as big as Bowser, and the arms were as long as three Bowsers each (I really like using Bowser as a size comparison).

"Fuck!" Samus cursed under her breath. Both arms sunk into the ground, causing the entire temple to rumble. Both erupted from the ground from each side of Samus and grabbed her arms, threatening to pull her body into half. The eye itself shot several dark lasers at Samus, piercing through her armor yet again.

Samus painfully and quickly transformed into a ball, releasing herself from the arms and boosted away from the mutant Vaati. She transformed back and fired as many phazon beam shots as she could.

_The Phazon Beam… It's my only hope now._

Unfortunately, even with the eye open, the phazon beam seemed to do nothing at all! The arms appeared next to Samus again, who was trembling in pain. Samus quickly rolled forward to avoid them and fired a charged phazon beam shot at the big eye. Again, it did nothing.

"Mwah ha ha!" Vaati laughed. "You can't beat me now!"

"So this is your so called Ren Kiu form?" Samus asked.

"…um, I don't have a Ren Kiu form."

"Very interesting! This has to be some final form or something then."

"Shut your mouth!" said Vaati as he fired several dark lasers again at Samus. Samus simply short hopped to avoid all of them.

_So… The Phazon Beam doesn't work now. I've practically lost all hope now._

_No… There's your hyper mode. The one you use against Kraid._

_Hyper Mode? You said that it would kill me._

_I said it would permanently damage your body if you use it too much. You're in a desperate situation._

_I guess… I have no choice. I have to end it… Now._

Samus closed her eyes, her silver suit glowing. White light outlined her entire body, and her arm cannon became almost twice as wider.

Vaati glared at her. _What? What the hell is happening?_

"Well looks like I'll be ending it," said Samus. She disappeared. Vaati turned his eye, desperately looking for her.

BOOM. A super missile struck Vaati's back. Somehow, it actually hurt him! He turned around to see Samus disappear again.

SPLATTER. The blue phazon beam struck Vaati's eye, and it suddenly started to sting him too!

_What the hell? How is this hurting me? I'm invincible against her! What's happening?_

BOOM. Samus hung from the ceiling, firing two seeker missiles at each one of Vaati's arms. Each missile created an explosion that rivals that of the power bomb! The claws were immediately destroyed as Samus appeared on the wall half a second later, charging a beam we never saw before.

A white beam of light (the light beam) struck the two joints connecting each one of Vaati's arm to his body (or big eye), blowing his arms off. Vaati cried out in pain as he felt his arms pierced off with light.

_I have to transform… again…_

Vaati disappeared through another black hole and appeared on the other side of the room. He was a red eye again, except with devilish wings and surrounded by four small red eyes.

"You can't beat my barrier now!" he said. Suddenly, four well-aimed seeker missiles blew up all four small eyes. Before Vaati could create another barrier, Samus appeared directly in front of his eye and fired a super missile, blinding him.

"ARGH! NO!" He cried. _There's no doubt about it! She's acquired it…_

_She's acquired Ren Kiu… with such little Endowment of Exigency… That's insane! That's impossible though! She never even trained! How could she master her Ren Kiu form so fast?_

"Say Good-Bye," said Samus, charging a phazon beam shot in front of Vaati. She released it, blowing up all particles of the eye. Phazon flew everywhere as Vaati transformed back into his sorcerer self. Samus fired another super missile at his unconscious body, blasting him upwards through the ceiling and all the way over Hyrule Castle.

She looked around, noticing that only Luigi was in the room. "I guess both Links are gone…"

* * *

All of the rebels and royal soldiers looked up to see Vaati's body flying in the air. Zelda stood on top of the main gate, looking up as well.

_They defeated him…_

"Everyone, look!" she cried, pointing up at Vaati's body. His body fell directly in front of the Main Gate, right in the middle of the rebels.

"Who in Din's name is that?" one of them asked.

"He looks like a sorcerer…"

Zelda looked down on the rebels. "Because he is the culprit behind our dying land. He is the one behind this war, and he is the one that lured you all to vie for the Triforce.

He is the one that killed our beautiful land. A few people on our side defeated him and stopped him from taking the Triforce. His plot was for your commander, Link, to obtain all the keys and open the door to the Sacred Realm so he can take the Triforce and obtain… more power than even Ganondorf can wish for."

All of the soldiers twitched at the word, "Ganondorf."

"Everyone! There is no point in fighting!" Zelda called out. "Drop your weapons! Please! I ask of you!"

There was a moment of silence. Suddenly, a rebel dropped his sword on the drawbridge, hearing the clanging noise of it falling. A second later, millions of clanging were heard, everyone dropping their weapons.

"This war is over! We don't want to fight anymore! We'll work together to help this land!" Zelda declared.

Young Link and Elder Link appeared on the drawbridge, each supporting each other's weight.

"Everything that Zelda said is right," said Young Link. "Vaati exploited his plot to us while the other Link and I were fighting."

"Everyone… There's no more point in fighting."

Both Links held up their long swords up. "Everyone!" they both cried with Zelda. "This war is over!"

* * *

Samus panted. There was a loud gush of water and a blue-haired man appeared on the puddle of water.

"Well, well, Samus, I must congratulate you on defeating Vaati!" he said, clapping his hands.

"Who are you?" Samus asked, not transforming back.

"Hm? You should know, as you saw my name on Ganondorf's list. The name is Alex."

"You… This is just my lucky day. I get to take two out in one day," said Samus. She disappeared, Alex simply standing still.

The millisecond Samus appeared behind Alex, preparing herself to fire a super missile, Alex cried, "_Ice Missile!_" Millions of thin and sharp icicles pierced through Samus at that split second, freezing her on the spot. He walked up to her, smirking.

"You, my girl, are no match for me. Vaati is simply the top of the bottom half of the Ring of Darkness. I assure you, us higher tier villains are on a much higher level than those low-rated people."

"But what if we're on a much higher level than them as well?" someone asked. Luigi jumped towards Alex, throwing a fiery karate chop attack at his back. Alex suddenly sank into the pool of water below, disappearing! Luigi looked around, searching for any trace of Alex.

"_Deluge…_" An enormous column of water engulfed Luigi, entering his lungs. Once the water cleared out, Luigi lied down on the ground on his back, holding his chest.

"Feel like you're drowning? I'm impressed by your quick surprise attack, you actually almost got me there," taunted Alex. "But I've got business to attend to. I have to go kill some vermin that was defeated by Samus here. I hope we won't see each other again, as Mewtwo will surely take care of you all."

His body suddenly turned into water and disappeared, leaving Luigi and Samus behind.


	24. Chapter 24: The Berserk Racer

Hack: It's finally over! The Hyrule arc! Yay! Now I wonder where Samus and Luigi will be going next… We'll be seeing Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff again in this chapter too!

* * *

**Chapter 24: The Berserk Racer**

Zelda approached Luigi and Samus, both in separate beds. "Are you two all right?" she asked. "Link found you two unconscious in the Temple of Time, surrounded by water. What happened?"

Samus smirked. "You could say that we encountered another Ring of Darkness member," she said.

"Alex was no joke… He's insanely powerful. And he's only fifth most powerful… I don't see how we can beat the guys above," replied Luigi.

Zelda smiled. "Don't worry, you'll both grow more powerful. Are you sure you can't stay any longer to rest? You've only rested for one night."

"If we rested another day at Peach's castle, we would be too late to defeat Vaati," Samus replied. "Every day counts. Thanks for everything, Zelda, but we have to go."

"You know where Link is?" Luigi asked.

"He's out at the ceremonies, giving out his speech to the nation with the King."

"Oh… All right. Say good bye to him for me too," said Luigi.

"Of course. Good luck on your journeys, both of you!"

"Thanks!" both Luigi and Samus replied, jumping out of their beds.

"We'll see you later after beating the master," said Samus.

* * *

Vaati sat in the jail cell, leaning his head against the cold stonewall. He had lost all of his energy in yesterday's fight with Samus.

"Unbelievable… How can she transform into Ren Kiu that quickly?"

"Oh my, Vaati, in a jail cell? This will definitely hurt our reputation!" Alex said, appearing in the jail cell.

"Well this little punk is only a sorcerer, and he underestimates his opponents way too much. I'm not surprise at all that bitch murdered him," Wolf replied, appearing beside Alex.

"What are you doing here?" Vaati asked. "I did nothing wrong! I already got Ganondorf's research like the master said!"

"Exactly. And now we have no further use of you," said Alex. "Spare the power, please. _Glacier!_"

A huge ice sheet appeared directly above Vaati, who quickly glided away to avoid it. Wolf appeared in front of him and used a powerful uppercut to send Vaati flying into the ceiling in one second.

But a tenth of a second after upper cutting him, Wolf appeared right above Vaati and delivered a fierce punch in the nose, spiking him into the ground. The next tenth of a second, Wolf smashed his legs onto Vaati's stomach in mid-air, smashing him into the ground. Wolf's legs impaled Vaati, coughing out blood.

Wolf jumped to the ceiling, charging a powerful downward head-butting attack as Vaati staggered. Suddenly, a huge, transparent iceberg fell on top of him, encasing him in ice. Alex appeared next to the iceberg with his sword out.

"_Diamond Berg!_" Alex cried as he hacked away at the ice. Vaati cried out in pain, as if the ice was a part of his body. Once Alex hacked all the ice away, Vaati was on his back, nearly unconscious.

"Take this!" Wolf cried as he shot down from the ceiling like a missile. He flung himself down so fast that he was actually moving at the speed of light! Wolf's head collided with Vaati's head, smashing it flat. Blood and gore splattered everywhere as Vaati was on the ground, now beheaded.

"That takes care of that…" said Wolf.

"It's time to report back to the master," Alex replied.

Time that Vaati was killed in: Less than five seconds.

* * *

Captain Falcon held the driver's wheel in front of him, with Jigglypuff in the passenger's seat. "Remember, Jiggly, keep your mouth shut or else some bastard will find out and wuss about it!" he said. Jigglypuff nodded, hearing the words from the announcer, "Three…"

"It's been a long time…"

"Two… One…"

"Be careful, Falcon!"

"GO!"

All thirty-two cars boosted forward at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per hour. Captain Falcon immediately sped past half of them within the first second of the race, smirking at all of the ones falling behind.

"See ya later, suckers!" he said as he sped past four more racers. Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion from behind. He quickly looked back to see two cars blowing up due to another car slide attacking.

"Wow, only in the first few seconds of the race…" he murmured as he focused his attention on catching up to first. There were six cars in front of him, so he was in seventh place. "I can't fucking believe that Samurai Goroh's actually beating me…"

Samurai Goroh's face appeared on the intercom screen hanging from the car ceiling. "Heh! You thought I was just sitting on my ass the whole time drinking while you were out? Hell no!"

Falcon smirked. "You're definitely a lot better than before."

"Damn straight, I'm the bomb. You can't beat the new me now!"

"Oh yeah? Let's see who'll win the entire Grand Prix then!"

"You still got that damn cockiness, I see!" said Goroh.

"Of course, you didn't change at all either. But I have a good reason to be cocky, you don't."

"Why you little…"

A wide, pink car appeared to the right of Falcon's car and used a slide attack on it, shoving the Blue Falcon car into the barrier on the left. Falcon and Jigglypuff gripped their seat hard as the car shook violently. The car went to a dead stop as Samurai Goroh sped off.

"Damn bastard…" Falcon cursed as he stomped on the accelerator. He watched all of the cars behind him pass him, and saw the number on his screen: 23rd. He scanned the map while waiting for his car to reach top speed.

_Whoa… I'm in last place, there aren't any cars behind me at all. And I'm 23rd… So nine cars are already destroyed in the beginning of the first lap? That's insane!_

Falcon smiled as his car finally reached its top speed, the car directly in front of him finally coming into view. "It's time!"

In front of him was a sharp 180-degree turn. The four cars in front of Falcon took the curve slowly with a wide turn, taking the outer curve.

"Noobs…"

Falcon spun his steering wheel to the left so fast that his car started to slide sideways! It was pointed left as it drifted straight. The moment Falcon reached the turn, he pushed his steering wheel to the left even more, causing his car to take the inner curve of the turn without losing any speed at all!

_Awesome! Now I'm 19th. Time to catch up to Samurai Goroh…_

Falcon looked to his right and saw a black car closing in on him, about to execute a slide attack! Falcon quickly pushed in his steering wheel, initiating the boost. The Blue Falcon boosted out of the black car's reach, keeping him safe.

"Falcon!" Jigglypuff cried. "The car has almost no power left!"

"I know!" Falcon replied. "But using that boost is better than getting flattened again!" Both smashers heard two more loud explosions from behind, but simply shrugged it off.

"There's the rest station!" Jigglypuff cried, pointing at a rectangular green portion of the racetrack. Falcon drove his car over that portion, causing it to replenish its power. The meter on his screen saying 'Power' filled up to the other end.

Falcon passed by three more cars, making him 16th. "Well as long as I'm 16th or better, I can still make it," he said.

He glanced up at the on screen map on the bottom left corner of his car's screen, and let out a loud gasp.

"Falcon! What's wrong?" Jigglypuff asked.

Falcon looked back at the window, facing forward as he lifted his right hand to point a finger at the map. "Look at this," he said.

"…I don't see anything wrong!" she said.

"The blue dot is us."

"I know, but I still don't see what's wrong…"

"Check who's behind us."

Jigglypuff leaned forward more and saw only one dot behind their dot. "Wait, so… We're second to last?"

"Right now, yeah. But what's weird is that almost half of the entire GP is wiped out. Somebody's been busy trying to kill everyone near the back. And I have a bad feeling about it."

"So the person behind us is an enemy?" Jigglypuff asked.

"Definitely. Let's get that bitch."

Falcon slowed his car down by just a couple hundred kilometers/hour. The car behind them sped past the Blue Falcon then started to slow down as well. Falcon sped his car up so it was right next to the red car and used a quick slide attack on it, pushing it into the left barrier.

"Who the hell are you?" Falcon asked as he turned the intercom to the car next to him.

"A servant of Black Shadow…" was the only response Falcon got before he felt a huge jerk in his car. The 'servant' countered with a more powerful slide attack.

Falcon grunted as he held a strong grip on his steering wheel. He turned his wheel so hard that he started to push the servant's car to the left.

Unfortunately for the both of them, there was a gap ahead, so they have to drive over a jump pad to jump over the gap.

"I'm sorry," the servant said through the intercom to Falcon. "But I'm afraid I have to knock you down here." After both cars drove over the jump pad, the servant somehow used a mid-air slide attack into Falcon's car. Unable to steer in the air, Falcon and Jigglypuff could only brace themselves as they landed directly on top of the right side barrier, suffering major damage. Falcon turned his steering wheel; to the right.

"What are you doing?" Jigglypuff screamed. The car drove off of the track and landed on an abandoned part of the track, some sort of road.

"Shit!" Falcon yelled. "I didn't mean to do that!"

The servant drove off on the racetrack as Falcon looked at his surroundings. "No way to get back on the track… We could drive through the barrier, but my car has insanely low power now…"

"So we… lost? Already?"

"I guess so. We have to wait for the administration to pick us up.

Jigglypuff sighed in disappointed.

* * *

"…And that's how I got here," Fox finally concluded with his insanely long story. "Apparently I can't fight for over fifteen minutes for a while because of my heart injury caused by Metaknight."

"Wow…" was the only thing that Ash could say. "That's just insane!"

Pikachu nodded. "That's really hard for any of us to believe…"

"Well believe it, Pikachu," said Fox. "I know that Mewtwo's somewhere here in Kanto, but he probably didn't put his plans into action. Yet."

"I never knew there were different worlds in the first place!" said Brock. "I mean, it's hard to believe that there's a talking Fox here right now."

"…I'm still kinda scared…" said Misty as she still hid behind the taller Brock.

"Well my next match isn't for another week, so I guess we can help you out with finding Mewtwo," said Ash as he smiled. Pikachu jumped on Ash's shoulder and let out a loud yawn.

Everyone else yawned afterwards. "I'm kinda tired… Any place you know we could stay at?" asked Fox.

"We can stay at a hotel," said Brock. "But people will give weird looks at us since you're… not human."

"I know! You can stay in a pokeball!" said Ash.

"WHAT?" Fox exclaimed, taking a step back.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it won't hurt at all," said Pikachu.

"You're _sure_?"

"Hey, I never went inside a pokeball before, but my pokemon friends are fine with it."

"I have an extra pokeball here that you can go in, we'll take you out once we're in our room," explained Ash.

"…Fine," said Fox. "But try to make it quick."

Ash turned his cap and threw a pokeball at Fox, opening up and engulfing him in white light. When the light disappeared, the pokeball was closed with Fox inside it.

"I should ask him what it's like to be in a pokeball," said Brock. "I mean, I could ask my other pokemon, but I'd never be able to understand them."

"I envy Fox…" said Misty.

"Right…" Ash replied. "There's a hotel a couple blocks down the street here in Saffron City."

"You have the money?"

"Yeah, of course I do."

* * *

Samus's ship gently hovered in space, leaving Hyrule to fade from sight. Luigi sat on the couch in the lobby of the ship, snoring loudly. To block out his snores, Samus took off her helmet and put on some headphones for some Metroid music.

"It's been a long week in Hyrule…" she said to herself, ignoring the snoring Luigi. "And it's another day until we reach Kanto, where Mewtwo might be.

But Alex… that man was insane. He's only slightly stronger than Mewtwo, yet he completely wiped Luigi and me out back there."

Samus placed her hands on the keyboard on the computer. She turned on a universal search engine and types in 'Alex water ice."

What came up on the monitor was a long essay and quick biography on Alex.

"…Psyenergy? Alchemy? Weyard? _The Golden Sun_?" Samus said questionably. "I never heard of these things."

Her eyes scanned over the essay for several hours, seeing many names and words she doesn't recognize. "After we beat Mewtwo, maybe we should take a visit to Weyard… It's a new world that we've never been to before, and maybe we can recruit Felix or Isaac into the Smash community, the supposed heroes of it. It's a really interesting story, I have to admit…"

Luigi stirred awake. "Samus…" he groaned. "When are we going to get to Kanto?"

"In a day. I already told you that an hour ago…"

"Fine… be that way." Luigi snored away again, allowing his tired body to rest.

"Sheesh, what an annoying git…" said Samus. She sighed. "I'm pretty tired too…" She placed her legs on a nearby table and leaned back on her chair, closing her eyes.

Unfortunately, she never noticed the words, "WARNING: MISSILE ATTACK" on her screen before falling asleep.


	25. Chapter 25: Even More Intense Racing!

Hack: Another Chapter down. Not much to say. Half of it is just to get the story going. I think people will be pleased with where this is going…

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 25: Even More Intense Racing!**

Captain Falcon smirked as he prepared himself for the second race of the Grand Prix, with Jigglypuff sitting on his shoulder. It was an hour left until the racers had to get back in their cars.

"I can't believe we actually qualified…" said Jigglypuff.

"Yeah, what damn luck. I'm kinda glad that servant dude killed another racer. He killed twenty four racers, leaving eight racers left including us. Because we were in the top half, we qualify by default," Falcon explained.

Falcon was sitting on a comfy bench in the main lobby, waiting for the next race to begin. Rather than being five races, there would only be four left because three quarters of the racers had their cars destroyed. He looked at the eight racers still remaining in the next GP race.

"…Mostly people I know. Good thing Black Shadow and Blood Falcon are still on the list…" Falcon murmured to himself. "Damn it, Samurai Goroh's on there, he's starting to become no joke… Jody Summer, one of the best racers… And of course I'm there too. Jack Levin, and… That servant dude. It says Zoda…"

_I swear, Zoda turned his back on Black Shadow long time ago. Why is he on his side now? Is he being mind controlled?_

"Falcon, are you okay?" Jigglypuff asked.

Falcon's mind snapped back to reality. "Yeah, I'm fine Jiggly. Just thinking to myself."

Samurai Goroh walked past Falcon, smirking at him. "You lucked off you bastard," he said, giving Falcon the middle finger. "This time, you're mine."

"Heh, look who's talking," Falcon replied, returning the glare.

"Hmph!" Samurai Goroh walked off to the car hold, getting his car ready.

* * *

"Here is your room," one of the butlers said as he lead Ash, Pikachu, Brock, and Misty into a hotel room. "Push the button here for service if you need us. Have a nice day." He closed the door, leaving the four in the room. Ash walked up to the large window and closed the curtains after quickly viewing the nice scenery of the entire Saffron City. He took out a pokeball and opened it, sending Fox out of it. 

"We're here, Fox!" said Ash.

"Damn, that ball was uncomfortable, but it could've been worse," he said, stretching his legs and arms.

"What is it like?" Brock asked. Ash, Pikachu, and Misty leaned in to listen, obviously interested.

"You're just stuck inside a really small white sphere, squeezed in. But you can see and hear everything that's happening outside," Fox explained.

"Phew! I'm glad I never went in a pokeball before!" said Pikachu, sighing.

There were several loud stomach growls from the three humans and the pokemon. "Geez, I'm starving!" said Brock.

"We should go out and eat then," Misty replied. Pikachu smiled cutely.

"Okay! Fox, you can stay here right?" said Ash.

"Of course," Fox replied.

"I'll stay here then," said Pikachu, jumping on Fox's shoulder.

"…You want to stay here?" Ash asked. Pikachu nodded.

"All right, we're going out now. See ya! Behave, Pikachu!" The three pokemon trainers walked out of the door and closed it, leaving Fox and Pikachu alone.

"So…" Pikachu started. "Have any idea what the four others are doing?"

Fox shook his head. "Nope, I have no damn idea. Hopefully they took out another Ring of Darkness member by now, that would be sweet. Anyone here that might be affiliated with Mewtwo?" he asked.

"Well Giovanni used to be Mewtwo's trainer, but Mewtwo grew so powerful that Giovanni couldn't control him. Eventually, Mewtwo left his trainer and Giovanni was nowhere to be seen."

"…ouch. Must be tough to be ditched ever since giving your pokemon all that care."

"Nah, Giovanni was an asshole. He never cared for his pokemon. He only used them to gain power."

"…oh."

"He's the leader of a group called Team Rocket, and the members of Team Rocket create inventions to control pokemon, and also steal powerful pokemon from other trainers. Jesse, James, and their Meowth have been trying to steal me for years since I'm supposedly super powerful," Pikachu explained.

"Well of course you are, you're the main pokemon of the main trainer hero," Fox replied.

"Heh… I guess so."

"So know anything about Mewtwo in the pokemon world? I know he's psychic and some of his moves, but…"

Pikachu shook his head. "What he uses in the smash community is NOTHING compared to what he can do in Kanto. He is the most powerful pokemon in Kanto, guaranteed."

"But we should be able to beat him if we team up."

"Maybe, if we strike his weakness. He's a psychic type pokemon with insane special attack and defense, so we have to hit him hard with dark, bug, or ghost type attacks."

"…what? I'm not a pokemon."

"Well if you have any sort of attacks that are darkish, use them since they'll be effective."

"Ah well. But he has Ren Kiu."

"Oh. Right. I have no idea what he can do with Ren… Kuo? I never even heard of it until you told me the entire story."

"Well I faced Metaknight's Ren Kiu. He almost killed me in a second. His power is insane."

"Yeah, you told me."

"That's a hint of what we're up against in the near future."

"We…?"

"I meant me, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, and Samus."

"Ah. Well I'm a little hungry, so I'm going to get some ketchup in the kitchen to drink."

"You drink _ketchup_?"

"Shut up!" Pikachu snapped at Fox before walking off. Fox shrugged it off as he lay his body on the sofa, putting his head on his crossed arms. In a few minutes, he went to a deep sleep, silently snoring.

* * *

"What the hell is that ship doing? For goodness sake, there's a huge ass missile coming towards it! The pilot must be such an idiot!" 

"I don't know why, that ship looks kinda familiar to me…"

"I sense faint life patterns… The pilot's sleeping?"

"Wow, the pilot of that ship really has to be an idiot. A lot worse than Slippy, and that's saying something."

"Shut up, Falco!"

"Both of you, be quiet!"

"You shouldn't even be flying an Arwing, Krystal! You're pregnant for crying out loud!"

BOOM

The missile finally exploded, with the orange ship nowhere in sight. The three Starfox pilots gasped.

"Great, we couldn't save another ship," said Falco.

"It's your fault you started the huge argument!" Slippy retorted.

"It wouldn't really matter at all since you didn't really need to save me," said Samus as she appeared on the intercom.

"Phew…" All three Starfox pilots said simultaneously.

Samus's ship appeared in the middle of the three Arwings. "What are you three doing out here anyways?"

Falco shrugged. "Just chilling out and helping my two fellow teammates to get better by using my sexy piloting skills!"

"…I'll pretend I didn't hear that," said Slippy.

"Same," Krystal added.

"Bah, whatever. What were you doing, Samus? Were you taking a nap or something?"

"…Shut up."

"Ah ha! I was right! Always have one person awake on the ship! Is there anyone else on there?"

"Just Luigi, who's also sleeping."

"As I thought! You're piloting skills don't match up with mine!"

"…Is that a challenged?" Samus asked, giving Falco a glare through the intercom.

"I suppose it may be!"

Slippy and Krystal sighed. "Krystal," Slippy started. "How many times now?"

Krystal took out a counter on her hand and pressed a button. "Hm… I think it's the 206th time this month."

"Really? I swear it was 211…"

"No, it's 206."

"But there was that one time you were sick…"

"Oh. Right." There was another click.

Back to Samus's and Falco's arguments.

"There's no way you can beat me!" said Falco. "I'll race you! Choose your destination!"

Samus smiled. "How about Kanto? It's a half day trip there if we race as fast as possible."

"Fine by me! Be prepared to be PWNED by the ace pilot of Starfox!"

There was a loud groan. "Samus," groaned Luigi. "How much longer?"

This time it was Samus who let out a groan. "Falco here challenged me to a galactic space race to Kanto. You fine by that?"

Luigi stretched his arms. "Fine by me, it'll probably get us there faster." He yawned and went to sleep… AGAIN.

"What are you going to do afterwards?" Slippy asked.

Falco grinned. "I guess I'll just stay with Samus and Luigi here for a while. It's been pretty boring without Fox."

"What?" Samus gasped.

"Got a problem with that? You're destination is Kanto, right? I lied about the reason why we're here."

"Damn right…" Slippy muttered under his breath.

"We're looking for Fox to catch up with him. Our sensors showed us that he's in Kanto right now, and apparently you guys are going there too."

"What a coincidence…" said Samus.

Falco smirked. "Yep. You two can just go back to base and chill out," he said to Slippy and Krystal.

"What? You can't order us around!"

"…I concur."

Falco frowned. "Okay, first of all, Krystal here shouldn't even be out of her room because of her little baby! And second, Slippy is just going to hold us back since you have absolutely NO experience on ground combat."

The two other pilots groaned. "Make sure you go back, okay?" Falco commanded. "Go!"

The two other Arwings flew off as Falco turned back to Samus.

"So aren't we going to get this race started?" said Samus.

"Of course. On my count… Three, two, one… GO!"

Samus's ship and Falco's Arwing sped off as fast as possible, leaving trails of light behind. Wonder who's going to win this galactic race…

* * *

Captain Falcon's car was positioned in the far back, behind the seven other cars, all ready for the next GP race. 

"Get ready to see my sexy racing skills, Jiggly!" said Falcon.

"I already saw them…" Jigglypuff yawned. "And I'm not very impressed."

"Shush!"

"Three… Two… One… GO!" The announcer said. All eight racers sped forward at hundreds of kilometers per hour, Falcon slightly lagging behind the seventh racer.

KABOOM. A small white car was sent flying behind, almost hitting Falcon's car. Falcon steered the Blue Falcon out of the way as he witness James McCloud (not Fox's father) using the escape pod to escape from the explosion).

"Gotta get rid of Zoda… fast!" said Falcon as he heard another loud explosion from Zoda (that servant dude) slide attacking. A turquoise car was also sent flying back, striking the car directly in front of Falcon's car. Falcon drove to the left again, avoiding the crash.

"Five seconds… Three cars down already. Damn!"

Falcon spotted his target. A thin purple car was attempting to slide attack another blue car, who was doing well to evade it.

"I'm not stupid enough to fall for your tricks!" said Samurai Goroh as he boosted ahead to avoid Zoda's attacks. Falcon took his place, driving forward to follow Zoda from the side.

"You're fight's with me, bitch," said Falcon. Zoda hissed at him as Falcon gave another slide attack. "Jigglypuff, do it!"

"What?"

"Get into his car and beat the shit out of him!"

Falcon used another slide attack and there was the sound of glass shattering. Jigglypuff had broken into Zoda's car.

Falcon smiled as he drove next to Zoda's car. After three seconds…

REST

Zoda was sent flying out of the window as Jigglypuff quickly hopped back into Falcon's car. Zoda's car violently swerved to the side without a driver, exploding with collision on the track barrier.

"That was sweet!" Falcon complimented. Jigglypuff blushed.

There were only four cars left on the track and the first lap was over. Falcon was closing in on the third place racer, who was strangely Black Shadow.

"Nice seeing you on the racetrack again, Black Shadow," sneered Falcon.

"Pah… You'd do well to avoid me if you knew what powers I had."

"Sorry, overheard your conversation with Blood Falcon."

"…What? I'm going to kill that bastard…"

"Hey, I'm your enemy here," Falcon finished before giving Black Shadow's black car a fierce slide attack.

"Now is not the time to be racing now… I have other things to attend to now," said Black Shadow. Suddenly, on Falcon's intercom, Black Shadow teleported away from his seat! Without a driver, his car exploded after falling off of the track.

"Damn it… I knew I should've attacked him right there in the bathroom… But that would be pretty awkward," Falcon said to himself. The Blue Falcon finally caught up with both Samurai Goroh and Blood Falcon, who were both racing each other neck to neck.

"Yo, guys! What did I miss?" Falcon smirked.

"Peh! I guess you're not rusty anymore!" said Samurai Goroh as he slowed down to avoid a slide attack from Blood Falcon.

"You'd do well to avoid me," said Blood Falcon.

"Pfft, always the same thing… You guys always want to beat me in front of public just to show that I'm a bad racer."

"That never happened to you, you idiot!" said Samurai Goroh.

"And it definitely won't fucking happen right now!" Falcon replied, using a boost to speed past the two other racers.

Blood Falcon pushed his car sideways into Samurai Goroh's car, trapping him between the left track barrier and Blood Falcon's car. Before long, Samurai Goroh used his escape pod a second before his car exploded.

"Excellent… now to take care of my archenemy… My crude copy."

Blood Falcon used several boosts, taking all of the sharper turns without losing any speed, and quickly caught up with Captain Falcon.

"What the fuck!" said Captain Falcon as he saw Blood Falcon beside the Blue Falcon.

"I won't fucking let you go!" Blood Falcon screamed as he attempted to slide attack the Blue Falcon into the barrier. Captain Falcon quickly slowed down, leaving Blood Falcon to crash into the barrier.

"Sorry, but I'm still the better racer, bitch."

"You… bastard…" Blood Falcon drove directly in front of Captain Falcon and immediately came to a stop. Caught by surprise, Captain Falcon could only drive around Blood Falcon, so he made a sharp curve around Blood Falcon's right.

Suddenly, Blood Falcon's car dashed sideways into Captain Falcon's car, pushing him into the barrier! His car also accelerated to Captain Falcon's speed in less than half a second, continuously pushing him into the barrier.

"Shit… How does your car have such an insane acceleration?" said Captain Falcon.

"The Endowment of Exigency… Thanks to Black Shadow!"

"That's considered cheating, you bitch. Jiggly, go get that bastard."

Jigglypuff used a rollout through the window and into Blood Falcon's car, crashing in. She found herself in an enormous empty hemispherical room. Blood Falcon appeared at the doorway, smirking.

"I set my car to autodrive, so it'll keep Captain Falcon busy. You're that little pokemon runt, aren't you?"

Jigglypuff nodded. "Is it all the Endowment of Exigency?" she asked.

"Well I'm sure I'll get a promotion if I kill you right here! I am faster and more powerful than your friend, there is absolutely no way you can defeat me, especially since you can't match up to my damn speed." Blood Falcon disappeared, running around the room so fast that Jigglypuff shouldn't be able to see him.

_Don't panic… He's just a more powerful Captain Falcon, and I know Captain Falcon. It's finally time to put my new abilities to the test… To see if my intense training wasn't a waste…_ "I think you'll find me more difficult to defeat than other enemies you faced," Jigglypuff started. "It's time to end this." 


	26. Chapter 26: Team Rocket Blasts

Hack: Yo! Sorry for the late update, folks, didn't have the time to type up this chapter! Another sweet yet short fight here, so enjoy this chappy!

* * *

**Chapter 26: Team Rocket Blasts  
**

As a recap: Jigglypuff is about to fight Blood Falcon inside a huge room that magically fits in his tiny car. Blood Falcon is speeding around so fast that a normal eye can't see him.

That includes Jigglypuff's eyes.

Jigglypuff held out her hands, crying "_Flamethrower_!" A line of fire shot out from her hands, creating a wall of fire. This wall stopped Blood Falcon from speeding around. Jigglypuff quickly jumped forward and threw his legs at him, but he was too fast. He wavedashed back to dodge it, then appeared right behind Jigglypuff and grabbed her. He punched her, knocking her into the wall of fire. He quickly ran around the wall (in a millisecond) and kicked Jigglypuff upwards. He appeared directly above her and prepared to use his famous spiker.

Jigglypuff cried, "_Protect_!" A wall of green energy formed between her and Blood Falcon, blocking the attack. Jigglypuff mid-air jumped up at Blood Falcon and threw a Mega Punch at him. Blood Falcon swerved in the air to dodge it then landed on the ground. He disappeared yet again, speeding around at super sonic speeds.

Jigglypuff slowly landed, poising a fighting stance. "Yes, you are really fast… Faster than Captain Falcon was back then," she said.

She received three blows at seemingly the right time, all in her face. Blood Falcon grabbed her again and threw her up. He jumped towards her and kneed her, pumping electricity through his knee. Jigglypuff was blasted into the wall, creating a small imprint on the wall.

"You know it! You can't fucking beat me because of my damn speed!" Blood Falcon taunted. "Is that all you fucking got?"

"_Agility_!"

Suddenly, Jigglypuff disappeared. Blood Falcon's smirking smile turned upside down, into a frown. He received a powerful Pound attack on his back. He whirled around just to see Jigglypuff disappear again.

"What the fuck?"

"Who's faster, you said?" Jigglypuff asked as she appeared directly above Blood Falcon, using a furious drill kick on his head. She landed on the ground and ducked, to avoid a quick punch from behind. She turned around, still ducking, and threw her right leg out at Blood Falcon's legs, tripping him. She jumped on his stomach and used…

REST!

Oh shit, this is the first time in this fic that she MISSED! Blood Falcon rolled out of the way as Jigglypuff slept, missing her trump card. He walked next to her and charged his infamous attack.

"Falcoooooooon… PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!" He screamed, releasing all of his energy through his arm as he threw his arm at Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff was blasted again through the wall, disappearing off of the racetrack.

"What a fucking bitch…" said Blood Falcon, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. "What a damn pushover…"

"_Fire Spin_!"

A tornado of fire surrounded Blood Falcon, trapping him right on the spot. Jigglypuff smiled, lowering her hands.

"Double Team really is helpful! I have to thank Spekkio for that…"

"What? That was just a fucking clone?"

Jigglypuff nodded as she cutely bounced on her feet. She lied flat on her side and started rolling in place, giggling.

FOOOOOOM. Jigglypuff charged forward with a powerful rollout attack, harmlessly blasting through the fire tornado and landing straight on Blood Falcon's chest. With his quick reflexes, Blood Falcon caught Jigglypuff between both of his hands, making her rollout attack useless.

"Ha! Didn't expect that, did you bitch?" said Blood Falcon as he prepared to blow up Jigglypuff with his hands.

REST!

This time Jigglypuff's rest attack landed as she was on Blood Falcon's chest and in his hands. Blood Falcon screamed in pain as the rest attack shot Blood Falcon through the wall, off of the racetrack and into the cities below. Of course, nobody could survive a fall like that after being blown up by the super de duper rest attack.

Jigglypuff panted as the fire tornado disappeared. She jumped through the window and back into Captain Falcon's car.

"I saw Blood Falcon on fire, blasted through his car. Rested that bastard to death, right?" said Captain Falcon, smiling. Jigglypuff nodded.

"We're the only racers left, so I guess we win by default! Take that, you assholes!"

* * *

Fox opened his eyes, scanning the room for anything suspicious. After a minute, he closed them again. _Weird… Must've been only my imagination…_

He rolled over again, holding a fluffy pillow against both of his ears to block out the sucking noise made by Pikachu sucking on a ketchup bottle in the kitchen.

There was a loud rattling noise on the window, and Fox quickly sat upright, jerking his head towards the window. He stared at it for a couple seconds, then shrugged it off. He laid himself back on the couch, closing his eyes peacefully.

He thought about the peaceful yet energetic atmosphere of the forests of Corneria. He remembered his team: Falco, Slippy, Krystal, and occasionally Peppy Hare. He remembered the gang of smashers that he started his adventure with: Luigi, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, and Samus.

_Damn… It's been weeks since I saw any of those people…_

CRASH!

The glass window shattered as three beings jumped through it. The noise surprised the shit out of Fox so much that he jumped into the ceiling, his head stuck in it. After a second, he popped himself back out.

The group of three consisted of a tall red-haired woman, a tall blue-haired man, and a small Meowth (white cat pokemon). The two humans cleared their throats as the room somehow grew dark, spotlights forming around each being.

"Prepare for trouble!" the woman started loudly as if she was on a drama performance.

"And make it double," the man added, holding a red rose near his face and closing his eyes.

"To protect the world from devastation…"

"To unite all people within our nation…"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love…"

"To extend our reach to the stars above…"

The spotlight on the woman shone brighter as she said, "Jessie!"

The same happened to the man. "James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light…"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

The Meowth jumped up, crying out loud, "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEOWTH! That's right!"

The stage-like setting disappeared as the three, apparently Team Rocket, stood there, facing Fox. Pikachu came running in, spots of ketchup visible on his face.

"It's you guys again!" said Pikachu.

"Who the hell are they?" asked Fox, pointing at them.

"What? You never heard of us?" Jessie accused. Pikachu and Fox ignored her.

"They're Team Rocket, part of a huge evil organization that uses tools and such to control Pokemon and force them to become more powerful," Pikachu briefly explained. "They also want to steal powerful pokemon, like me, so they're a damn pain in the ass to deal with since we see them every five minutes."

"Meowth!" said Meowth. "Lucky! It looks like we can swipe Pikachu too!"

Pikachu gasped. "So you weren't looking for me? Who were you looking for first?"

"We were told to find this Fox inside this hotel by the boss! And behold, we found the Pikachu too!"

"Well whoever you guys are, I'm not going to let you guys have your way," said Fox, grinning.

"We'll see about that!" said Jessie, grabbing her pokeball. "Go Arbok!"

"Go Weezing!" cried James, throwing another pokeball as well.

An enormous violet viper, an Arbok, appeared before everyone. From the next pokeball, a Weezing appeared, which looks like three violet spiny poison bombs stuck together (Hey, I can't describe these darn pokemon, go google image them or something if you don't know what they look like. I'm serious.)

"Just the same pokemon again? Is that all you've got?" said Pikachu as he jumped between the Arbok and Weezing. "Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu released an enormous force field of electricity around both Weezing and Arbok, shocking them with thousands of volts of electricity. After he finished his attack, both of Team Rocket's pokemon were down, smoking unconscious.

"Why you…" James gritted. "Go Victreebel!"

"Wobbuffet!" Jessie cried. An enormous yellow walking plant appeared, carrying a huge mouth with fangs. Following the Victribell, a blue human-like squiggly pokemon appeared. (Again, go image search them if you don't know what they look like.)

"Piece of cake! Quick Attack!" Pikachu speedily dashed forward and tackled the Wobbuffet, knocking it down unconscious. He turned to attack the Victribell when he saw it fall to a charged blaster shot from Fox.

"Yeah, these guys are a bit too easy," said Fox. "I feel really sorry for you…"

"Meowth! We've got a really powerful pokemon ready for you guys!"

A cat pokemon was silently charging a powerful beam while hiding behind Team Rocket, so Fox and Pikachu wouldn't notice.

"There's no way you can win now!" said Jessie. "The three twerps are captured by the boss!"

"What? Ash, Misty, and Brock are kidnapped?"

"No duh!"

James snapped his fingers. "Go, Persian! Hyper Beam!" The three Team Rocket members jumped out of the window as the Persian (cat pokemon) released his charged attack.

The blast blew up the entire hotel room, thought not the entire building. It was powerful enough to be unavoidable and sent Pikachu and Fox flying out from the hotel, landing them directly in a pile of thorny bushes. Of course, this gave them severe cuts on their skin the moment they landed.

"Shit… That hurt…" Fox groaned. "Shit, I feel woozy…"

"Same here… Ugh…"

Both Fox and Pikachu fell on their backs, unconscious from the pain. If they only fainted a second later, they would've noticed two ships flying around in the sky.

"Admit it, Falco! I totally murdered you in that race!" Samus yelled at Falco through her intercom.

"No way! You fucking used your missiles to blow me up when I was so damn ahead! There's no way you would've beaten me without your weapons!"

Luigi sighed. _They're arguing again… Sheesh._ "Samus, Falco! We should find a landing spot somewhere."

"Oh, right, a landing spot," both pilots said in sync. They found a wide, open area to land their ships and jumped out of their vehicles, followed by Luigi.

"So this is Kanto, huh?" said Samus.

"Yep, the ultimate land of the pokemon. Any known leads on where to find Mewtwo?" asked Luigi.

"Nope, not any fucking idea. I'm here to find Fox, and I know he's here."

"Ah, right. It'd be great if we had him back on the team," said Luigi as they walked past the bushes hiding Fox and Pikachu.

* * *

"We award Captain Falcon, the winner of the entire Grand Prix, with a million dollars!" The host of the GP said, giving Captain Falcon an enormous check. Captain Falcon smiled as he waved at all of the audience, confetti falling everywhere. 

"Though I must admit, that was certainly the most violent GP I have ever witnessed! Anyways, anything you want to finish this ceremony with?" asked the host.

Falcon smiled. "I'm going to use this check to pay for a one-time use of a universe teleportation device, the one that seeks any person you are looking for."

"But why?" asked the host. "Don't you want to use this money for things like servants and such?"

Falcon shook his head. "Nah, I'm on a tight schedule. I've got to get out of here to look for someone. The use of that teleportation device for one costs a million dollars, including preparations, right?"

"Yes, of course. We can prepare it right now. It'll be ready by tomorrow. Anything else you want to add?"

"Nah, it's been a cool race owning Samurai Goroh and it's been nice coming back to race after over a year, but I have to go for a couple more months still. I think I've been rusty for a while, but I've been warmed up by this GP. I'll have to be saying bye to everyone, even though I only met with my mates for a day. That's all I've got to say to mah sweet fans!"

"All right, fellas, give it your all to Captain Falcon, the undisputed racing champion!" Everyone cheered, and Captain Falcon smirked, raising his right hand and using a voiceless 'Show your moves!' pose.

* * *

After one day…

"Jiggly, you okay?" asked Falcon.

"Yeah, that fight just tired me out. I never used those abilities in real combat," said Jigglypuff, still lying down on his shoulder.

"I just noticed…"

"Hm?"

"I never got to show off the full potential of all of my sexy skills I learned in the End of Time."

"I'm sure you'll be able to use them against Black Shadow!"

"Yeah, maybe… You ready to go through?"

"Yes. We are looking for Black Shadow, correct?"

"Definitely. I'm sure he left this world to seek his friends for help or something."

Captain Falcon walked onto the circular platform in the platinum metal room with Jigglypuff sitting on his shoulder. He pressed a couple buttons on the control panel and typed in 'Black Shadow.'

"Let's get that freakin' bitch."

Both smashers disappeared to who knows where.

…Actually, they land right on top of Samus, Luigi, and Falco, creating another pile of smashers.


	27. Chapter 27: Three Stories in One

Hack: This chapter won't impress anyone… You can tell from the title what's going to happen. Not much action, a couple tiny side stories here, etc. The next chapter is when the action bulk of the Kanto arc will start!

And no, Falco, Pikachu, and Meowth will not be in the permanent group of smashers. Remember that the five are destined to save the universe, the others are just helping.

Yes, I know my previous chapter was a bit bland on action. It wasn't meant to be so bulky with action really… Well prepare for tons of action next chapter! And some story uncovering in this one! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 27: Three Stories in One**

"HOLY SHIT!" Falco, Samus, and Luigi cried as Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff landed on top of them. Caught by surprise, the three smashers fell even from the light weight of the two others.

"Holy shit! I'm so damn sorry about tha… Samus? Luigi? _Falco_?" said Captain Falcon.

Jigglypuff innocently jumped off of the pile, pretending that she wasn't involved. Luigi, at the bottom of the pile, grunted as he climbed back on his feet, knocking Falco and Samus off. They both stood back up, however.

"It's been a while, Captain Falcon," said Falco, brushing off the dust on his clothing. It wasn't a big secret in the super smash community that Captain Falcon was on Falco's top three rivals list, which also includes Fox.

"Yeah, it has been a while, dude!" He gave Falco a swift high five then turned his head towards Luigi and Samus.

"So finished with all that Hyrule war stuff, I'm guessing?" he asked as Jigglypuff floated back into the middle of the group innocently.

"No really!" Samus rolled her eyes. "I mean, what would we be doing here, getting out of Hyrule before killing off Vaati?" she asked sarcastically.

Captain Falcon had a puzzled look. Luigi slapped his forehead. "That means yes, you doofus," he said, playfully hitting Falcon on the back with his hand.

"Oh! I can't sense sarcasm very well! Sorry!"

"So Hyrule's back in peace?" asked Jigglypuff, smiling.

Luigi and Samus nodded. "Yep. Then we found out that most of the lower tier Ring of Darkness members were taken out, so we're taking a step up and attacking Mewtwo, who's supposedly more powerful."

Samus added, "We're probably thinking about heading to Pherae next since they want the life force of dragons, as we found out from Ganondorf."

"Samus told me that Alex hails from Weyard and he's next on the list, so we might stop by there to defeat him as well."

"…Ring of Darkness?" asked Jigglypuff, having an extremely puzzled look on her face.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Falcon blurted out. "It looks like we missed out on a huge shit load of crap!"

Luigi sighed. "Yeah, it seems like it."

"Hey, count me in!" said Falco. "I want to hear everything as well. I'd do everything I can to help my friend, Fox. We also need him to stop the assaults in…"

He suddenly closed his beak, clearly not wanting to finish his statement.

"All right. Everyone, get seated and comfortable," said Luigi.

"Because we're about to unveil to you some of the secrets of the Endowment of Exigency and the Ring of Darkness…"

"And what happened after you guys entered the End of Time."

* * *

"Are you kidding me? They're attacking _again_? I already told you, our team is out on another mission right now! …no, only Slippy. Sheesh, you're pretty behind on news, right? Because Peppy's been retired for years, Krystal's pregnant, Fox is gone on a universal mission, and Falco is out trying to fetch him! NO! I told you, Slippy's the only one we have right now! 

…I'll see you later. Bring out the best troops we've got, we'll definitely have to wait a couple days for him."

General Pepper hung up the phone and sighed. Corneria has been devastated from constant assaults from unknown attackers. He was an aged dog who informed Peppy everything he needed to do to organize and give orders to the Starfox Team.

"I'm getting too old for this…" The phone rang again and he angrily threw his hands up in the air, letting out a long string of curse words. "Eleventh time this hour!"

* * *

An hour later… 

"Holy shit… I knew my babe would come through against Vaati though!" said Captain Falcon, punching his arms into the sky above him. There was a loud explosion heard.

Samus chuckled. "It's been SO DAMN LONG since I've done that! It feels so good!"

"Ah, right…" said Falco. "That was your hobby, blowing him up every five minutes."

Luigi sat down. "So what happened after you guys entered the End of Time?"

Falcon was still out cold, pitch black, so Jigglypuff stood up. "I'll explain," she said. "We were called to the End of Time by Gaspar, the Guru of Time, for some training. Apparently, he said that we were incapable for the trials ahead without the training, so he separated us for training. I met Spekkio, Captain Falcon met Vivian."

"Vivian? You mean the Shadow Siren that traveled with my bro in Rogueport?" interrupted Luigi.

"Yes. She taught Captain Falcon how to bring out his fire abilities and use the shadows to his advantage. I learned how to train myself to fully master some extra pokemon skills that a normal Jigglypuff can't learn…"

"That's really cool!" exclaimed Samus. "Can you show us some?"

"Um… It's really REALLY tiring to do them… Maybe in the fight against Mewtwo…"

"Okay, can you continue on? What happened after you trained?" asked Falco, eyeing the unconscious Falcon.

"We trained with out teacher for a week straight. No breaks, no rest, no anything. It was really tiring, but I think it was worth it. After the week was done, we took a final test and the both of us fought Vivian and Spekkio."

"How did the fight go?" asked Samus.

"I was knocked unconscious after taking down Spekkio, but I'm sure that Captain Falcon took down Vivian. In the end, we both passed the test, and Gaspar sent us to Mute City the next day, Captain Falcon's home world."

"Damn it! I was hoping I could visit his place sometime!" Falco cursed.

Jigglypuff shook her head. "We stayed there for only three days. Captain Falcon found out that Black Shadow was part of this Ring of Darkness, another carrier of the Endowment of Exigency, so we entered the GP to hunt him down.

In the semifinals, he ran away from us, leaving us to win the finals. I took down his top subordinate, Blood Falcon, who was destroying all the other cars in the race."

"Ouch…" commented Luigi.

"Yeah… But we won a trip to use a teleporting tracking device. We decided to track Black Shadow down, and then we ended up right on top of you guys."

"So Black Shadow should also be here! Great!" said Samus, clapping her hands. "Now let's get done with the damn story telling and do some more damn blasting!"

"Nope, sorry, I've got my own story to share with the group," said Fox, emerging from the bushes with Pikachu on his shoulder. Everyone else jumped a hundred feet high, almost receiving heart attacks.

"So this is the group you were traveling with?" said Pikachu.

"Except Falco, yeah. Don't know why he's here, but it's probably something urgent in Corneria. What is it, Falco?"

Falco recovered from his brief heart attack. "Well it's really…"

"Really… what? Anything happening in Corneria is first priority, more than this quest. You knew that when you entered the Starfox team."

"Are you sure? Corneria is just a planet and we're trying to save the universe!" said Luigi as Captain Falcon finally regained consciousness.

Falco shook his head. "Nope, I'm just checking in on you. I want to see if I could help."

Fox raised an eyebrow. "Great!" he said. "We can get all the help we need! And with Pikachu here, that brings our temporary group to seven!"

"So where have you been all the time? Weeks ago, we saw your Arwing fall to another area of Mushroom Kingdom!" said Luigi.

Fox sighed. "Well I listened to both of your stories, so you all better listen to mine. It'll take longer than Luigi and Samus's story… I landed in Kong Isle and met up with Donkey Kong. Thing is…"

* * *

Metaknight looked through the several hundred research papers on the Endowment of Exigency. "Damn it!" he cursed. "I don't know anything about this… word that we've found!" 

Wolf was also throwing papers around after skimming each one. "You'd think that doctor bastard would leave behind another hint, but noooooo… Even Mewtwo couldn't figure it out yet."

Alex teleported in. "Anything I missed?"

Metaknight scoffed. "Just a couple hours wasted, trying to crack it."

"…crack that code?"

"No fucking duh! All that psychic kitty could find was a code that Doctor Mario left behind! It HAS to do…"

* * *

"…with that third part of the Endowment of Exigency you were talking about!" said Fox, finishing his story after two hours. He had told them everything: King K. Rool's 'mysterious' death, his quick fight against Metaknight, meeting with Ness, recovering and fighting Pokey, looking over the reports, and finally what he did in Kanto. 

"Wait, slow down here, dude!" said Falcon. "So the stuff Ganondorf said about dragons is his part of the Endowment of Exigency. And the report you found is Mewtwo's."

Fox raised a finger. "That's what I think. And at the end of the report, we found a part of a code that Doctor Mario left. It's definitely going to be a hint about the third part of the Endowment of Exigency. We want to beat the Ring of Darkness to it."

"You had Ness with you, though!" said Pikachu. "He's a genius!"

Falco shook his head. "If he cracked it, Fox here would be telling us what it is by now. Obviously, nobody cracked the code yet."

"Unfortunately, you're right."

Luigi had a puzzled look. "But what exactly IS Mewtwo's part?"

Fox had a disgusted look. "Pikmin," he said. "I think they're some sort of aliens on another planet. I saw pictures and they look extremely peaceful and cute, though. But on Mewtwo's report, they needed over a million Pikmin lives to simply power up our mansion's power source into the Endowment of Exigency."

"A million lives…" whispered Jigglypuff. "That's horrible…"

Falcon slammed his hand on the grass. "Well we're not going to fucking sit here and wait for that damn organization to kill more Pikmin! After we kill Mewtwo, it's Pikmin world next!"

Samus shrugged. "I've researched every single planet that my motherboard computer could find. I never heard of Pikmin until now, so it's going to be a little hard to find that world…"

"Hey, there's no point in discussing this right now," said Luigi. "We're here to kill Mewtwo and save Ash, Misty, and Brock. Any second we waste is an extra second for Mewtwo. And welcome to the group, Falco and Pikachu. Hopefully you'll help us in our fights."

"No problem!" Falco let out a grin.

"I won't let you down!" Pikachu jumped up and down with a cute smile on his face.

"Um… It's you guys…"

Meowth appeared from the bushes, all dirty and patched up. Fox and Pikachu stared at him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Pikachu.

"I got separated from Jessie and James, but I also heard your story."

Luigi let out a sigh. _How many people have been eavesdropping on us…_

"I want to meet with da boss! Take me with you!"

"I don't think we can do that after what you guys did to us…" said Fox.

"Please! I beg of you! I want to see what's wrong with him! He's been telling us to kill pokemon recently! Team Rocket's only an organization that swipes and pumps pokemon up! We don't do killings!"

"…Fine."

"Fox, you're letting him go with us?" Pikachu asked.

"We have no time. We can use all the help we can get," Fox explained. "Every second counts, as Luigi said. Welcome to the group, Meowth."

"There's eight of us now… Bigger than the original five. I wonder if we'll actually be a good match against Mewtwo…" said Jigglypuff.

"Meowth, isn't that your balloon?" Pikachu asked, pointing at the sky. There was a large hot-air balloon with Jessie and James riding in it. The balloon itself was a Meowth face.

Only Samus could make out the words they were making.

"…we're to report back to the boss right now! The three of us!"

"Oh, right. I forgot…"

_Is it just me?_ Samus looked over the group. _Nah, must have heard wrong…_

"Da boss's room is in the top floor of the Silph Co. They renovated it so the top floor is three stories high. It's da super tall building in the middle of Saffron City."

"Hm, okay. We haven't got a second to lose," said Luigi.

Falco pointed at the gigantic tall tower in the middle of the city. "That's our target right there," he said. "And Mewtwo is definitely in it. Let's go."

The group of eight walked towards the tower, not knowing that they'll be facing the toughest battles yet against pokemon… And their toughest Ring of Darkness battle in this entire story so far. They will face the first RoD member with the ability to transform into Ren Kiu. After these battles, there's the code that they must crack, and plenty of other stuff they must do.


	28. Chapter 28: Giovanni

Hack: Yeah, to answer one of your questions, the smashers weren't that happy to see Fox because they were so damn surprised by his sudden appearance. And to be blunt, he actually didn't do that much besides find Mewtwo's report, while everyone else did quite a bit. Let's see here, Luigi beat the crap out of Cackletta, Samus beat the crap out of Vaati, Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff became much more powerful and defeated Blood Falcon, Luigi and Samus learned the whole story from Ganondorf, and Fox really did almost nothing compared to what the others did.

But of course, Fox will play a much more important role after this arc. Especially in the upcoming planet that they're going to visit, but I'm not going to reveal that. Enjoy this chapter!

By the way, if you don't know what a pokemon looks like, go image search it! It's too hard for me to describe them… Sorry.

* * *

**Chapter 28: Giovanni  
**

"_Get the fuck out of here! I don't want to see your damn sorry face in this ship again!"_

"…_If I take a step back, I'll never be able to move on…"_

"_YOU FUCKING BITCH, YOU ARE FUCKING DEAD YOU DAMN BASTARD!"_

"_I don't give a shit about my life anymore. I won't let you fucking do what you want with me!"_

Mewtwo chuckled to himself. Seeing the future of these beings really was amusing to him. He decided to venture further.

"_Damn it, I can't crack this damn code! It's so damn impossible!"_

"_I figured it out! It's…"_

"_You've had enough, Mewtwo?"_

Mewtwo immediately opened his eyes again. _That cannot be… Was that me on the ground? No. I am the perfect pokemon. I am unstoppable._

"Boss!" Mewtwo heard the voice from his mind. He peered through the floor below him (yes, he can see through floors and walls) and saw a Team Rocket Grunt speaking to Giovanni in a formal red suit.

"Boss, your pokemon are ready sir! Your next orders?"

Mewtwo twisted his hands, controlling Giovanni's body.

"…take a break. I have no further use of you," said Giovanni with a slight monotonic voice.

"On your orders, boss!" The grunt gave him a salute and left the room.

Mewtwo's eyes opened again. He looked at the base of the Silph Co. outside and saw a group of smashers.

_So they finally arrive… Let's see how far they can get…_

* * *

Two Rocket Grunts stood by the entrance of the Silph Co., completely alert on their surroundings. Unfortunately, their instincts aren't very powerful. 

BEUM! A charged blaster shot struck the right grunt's waist, knocking him out cold. Before the other Grunt noticed, Captain Falcon came flying into his head, kicking it against the wall. Before long, he was out cold too.

The group of eight came to the door and entered quietly, only to enter an enormous room with several Rocket Grunts everywhere.

"What the… Who are you?"

"Intruders! They must've knocked out the guards!"

All of the Grunts reached for their pokeballs, preparing to make their pokemon fight.

Fox pointed at the end of the room. "There's our target!" he said, pointing at an elevator. "If we get there, we can reach the top in no time!"

In two seconds, a third of the grunts were frozen by an Ice Spreader, another third were electrocuted to death by Luigi, and the remaining ones were taken out by a well placed Falcon Kick and Fire Bird.

"Holy shit, these guys are a piece of cake…" said Captain Falcon. Fox and Falco ran to the elevator and opened it. The group of eight entered the small metal elevator as the doors closed.

Meowth jumped up and down. "The last floor is da 30th floor in the Silph Co. But we usually get there by balloon, so I don't really get dis elevator stuff…"

Samus looked at the floor buttons on the side of the elevator. "We can't go up any higher," she said, pushing the number thirty.

"Why not?" asked Pikachu. "We can't stop for something stupid like this! We have to go save Ash!"

Samus tapped a slot below the elevator buttons. "We need a card key to access floor thirty. Meowth, are you sure we can't just blast upwards?"

Meowth sadly shook his head. "Naw, the floors are secured with high technology. You can't blow up any of the walls or floors, so we have to use the elevators. No stairs, either."

_Didn't he just say that he didn't know the building very well?_ Samus shook her head.

Luigi pushed the floor number twenty-nine. "We can go on this floor for some reason," he said. "We might as well go up as high as we can."

After waiting another minute, there was a DING! The elevator door opened and the group of eight ran out to enter the twenty-ninth floor.

The elevator door closed behind them and they were all surrounded by Team Rocket Grunts carrying whips and guns.

"What the hell?" said Pikachu. "Trainers never carry around weapons!"

"Well apparently Team Rocket does now!" replied Captain Falcon. All of the grunts released gunfire on all of the smashers, bullets shooting at the smashers.

With blinding reflexes, Jigglypuff jumped in front of the smashers and cried, "Protect!" A yellow hemispherical barrier formed around all of them, blocking the bullets. In fact, the barrier was so powerful that the bullets ricocheted off, hitting other Team Rocket Grunts!

Before long, all of the grunts were downed again, leaving an empty room with three separate doors. Only one more Team Rocket member stood.

"Hmph, I commend you for getting this far," he said. "Getting past all of my top Team Rocket Grunts is very creditable."

"You're… Giovanni! The leader of Team Rocket!" said Pikachu.

"Yes, that's definitely Giovanni," Jigglypuff added.

"That's the leader? No wonder he looks different, he's not wearing any black!" replied Falco.

Giovanni smirked. "As Meowth has undoubtedly told you, your friends are trapped on the thirtieth floor."

Meowth held up his paw. "Wait, how do you know that I was coming? And what's the point of all these killins? We're not meant for that!"

"I have no time to answer your questions," said Giovanni. "If you truly want to waste your lives trying to save your friends… You obviously need the elevator cards. Behind each door behind me is a card for each, though only one is real."

"What the fuck? What are you trying to do?" said Falcon, flicking Giovanni off.

Giovanni ignored him. "But to obtain the card in each door, you must defeat my most powerful pokemon. Two lie behind each door. Once you defeat them, the card will appear, but who knows? Your efforts might have gone in vain, for all I care."

Giovanni suddenly disappeared into thin air. Everyone was confused as to what was going on.

"Well what are we going to do? Let's kick some pokemon ass!" said Samus.

"But we want to get to the top floor as soon as possible," said Fox. "I think it's a smart choice to split up and get all three cards at the same time. It's the fastest way we can get the correct card, guaranteed."

"Good idea, I'm always into splitting up," Luigi added.

"Me too!" said Jigglypuff.

"Meh… Whatever," said Meowth.

"It's for Ash… I'll do it," said Pikachu.

Falco grinned. "All right, this is where the real fight starts! I'll split us up. After hearing your stories, I think I have the best plans for how to split up.

First, Luigi and Samus should fight together because they've been together for a long period of time. Same with Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff. Luigi can absorb lightning, so I think it's a good idea to stick Pikachu with Luigi and Samus. I don't know much about Meowth, but I'll put him with Jigglypuff and Falcon. I'll be going with Fox, and the two of us will take on one room. Everyone got it?"

"As long as I'm not with Meowth, I'm fine!" said Pikachu.

"Damn it, I hate this! I'm not with my babe!"

Luigi grabbed Samus from behind to stop her from shooting Falcon.

Falco continued. "All right, so here's how it is.

Right door: Luigi, Samus, and Pikachu.

Left door: Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Meowth

Middle door: Fox and Falco."

Falco was about to speak again, but Fox stopped him. "You've done enough, and you're definitely become a lot smarter," he said. "I'll take it from here.

These battles are the most important that we will face. We must win at all costs. Do whatever it takes to win. I know that Mewtwo is up there, waiting for us. I know that he knows about our presence, and he'll do whatever it takes to stop us. We're doing this all for Pikachu and his friends. We're doing this for our friends.

Most importantly, we're doing this for the entire universe, and accomplishing our task of annihilating the Ring of Darkness. Everyone got that?"

There were mutters and nods, but no arguments.

"So what are we waiting for?" said Samus. "Let's go!"

The group of eight split into three smaller groups and walked through the doors, ready to face whatever waits for them.

* * *

Luigi, Samus, and Pikachu faced a Nidoking (purple giant ground/poison pokemon) and an Alakazam (psychic pokemon, yellow, carries spoons). 

"You ready for this?" asked Luigi.

"Of course. How about you, Pikachu?" Samus answered.

"Never been better." The red spots on Pikachu's cheeks flowed with electricity, ready to electrocute anyone in the way.

Samus held her arm cannon to the side and adjusted its functions.

Luigi placed his hands behind him, charging his fire and electricity attacks.

"Let's go!" all three cried.

* * *

Captain Falcon held his elbows up in a fighting stance, while Jigglypuff sat on his shoulder. Meowth was whimpering. 

They were in front of a Machamp (gray human-ish fighting pokemon with four arms) and a Gyarados (flying water pokemon, looks like a flying snake/dragon).

"I… I can't do this…" said Meowth. "I can't fight…"

He suddenly turned around and ran back through the door, escaping.

"Pfft, I knew he'd chicken out…" said Captain Falcon.

"That's not so important," replied Jigglypuff. "He wouldn't have done much anyways, probably just get in the way."

"True… Well, let's play with these god damn pokemon then!"

* * *

Fox stood by Falco, his staff and blaster drawn. Falco took out his own blaster, but he generally preferred fighting with his legs more. 

"Huh, I never heard of these pokemon…" said Fox. He looked at a Scizor (red steel bug pokemon) and a Skarmory (gray, metal bird with big wings).

"This might be some trouble… We've got ourselves metal pokemon," said Falco.

"What happened to you, Falco? You used to be cocky, twice as more than me," replied Fox.

"Hmph, let's say that I got into a couple troubles lately."

"So you ARE hiding something from me!"

"Fuck no! There is nothing I'm hiding from you!"

"Are you sure? Are you sure I can trust you?"

"Yes, definitely. I've been your damn friend for years!"

"All right, I trust you. Let's take them down."

"You've got it."

* * *

"Nergal! Aren't you done yet?" Wolf asked, angrily throwing papers around. 

Nergal glared at him. "No! I told you, this ritual takes weeks to prepare! I must have another week to finish them, then there's the time it takes to get to Pherae!"

Wolf instantly appeared directly in front of Nergal. "If you don't get it done any faster…" he snarled, ready to tear Nergal's throat apart. "I think I might as well kill you right here!"

BOOM. A loud explosion tore Nergal and Wolf apart. A dark figure appeared by the door.

"M-m-master!" both Nergal and Wolf stuttered.

"You're not letting your anger take over you again, are you Wolf?"

"Um, no! Of course not!"

"If something like this happens again, I will personally make sure you pay tenfold. Maybe I'll just head over to Kanto and… _kill_ Fox for you, shall I say?"

Wolf growled. "I fucking told you, Fox is MY prey!"

"Remember that _I_ am the master around here, and everyone will do as I say!"

Metaknight appeared beside the figure. "Master!" he said. "We have a visitor saying that he wants to join us. He seems quite capable too, more than Vaati or even Mewtwo. He claims to have been revived by one of his humble servants."

"Hm? But we're running low on the Endowment of Exigency. We don't have anyone to suck it out of…"

"Except Nergal…" Wolf snarled. "We have no further use of him except for the ritual. We can simply dispose of him after he's finished."

"Oh really? But that would be too cruel. But of course, we did that with King K. Rool and Vaati…"

"Nergal is the second weakest. He is not using his power to full use. I suggest that we lend his power to this newcomer and see if he uses it well," explained Metaknight. "If he uses it well, he should keep it. If not, we shall give it back to Nergal."

"But…" Nergal started.

"Quiet, bitch!" yelled Wolf. "You have no authority in here! You have absolutely no say in this!"

The master smiled. "Of course… That is an excellent idea. I love how your mind works, Metaknight… What is this newcomer's name anyways?"

"He claims to have come from Eagleland."

"The planet where you knocked Fox into?"

"Yes. He is probably still alive, I can still sense…"

The master interrupted. "The name! What is his name?"

"The newcomer's name is Gigyas, Ness's enemy."


	29. Chapter 29: Psychic and Poison

Hack: Now I'm finally getting somewhere with the action! This chapter will be 95 about Luigi, Samus, and Pikachu's fight! Expect lots! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 29: Psychic and Poison**

"So, Pikachu, anything you know about these two pokemon?" Luigi asked.

"The Alakazam is one of the most powerful psychic pokemon, so he's like a weaker Mewtwo. Since he's a psychic, he can control things with his mind, so be careful. The other pokemon, Nidoking, is a poison and ground type, which is trouble for me because he's immune to electricity."

Pikachu pointed a finger at the Nidoking. "Avoid all of his attacks at all costs, because chances are, you'll get poisoned by them."

"Ick… poisoned…" Samus groaned.

"You called me a weaker Mewtwo?" said Alakazam, twirling his telekinetic spoons with his mind. "I know many things that even he doesn't know!"

Samus nodded her head towards the Alakazam, and the other two smashers perfectly read her mind. Luigi smiled. _Yeah, he'll definitely give us more trouble than the Nidoking. Let's take him out._

Samus quickly released a super missile at Alakazam. At the same time, Luigi released a long stream of fire at him and Pikachu released an enormous pulse of electricity.

The super missile was directed away from Alakazam and towards the wall. Simultaneously, a large barrier appeared around Alakazam.

"_Protect!_"

"Holy shit, this is what Jigglypuff used!" said Luigi. All three smashers jumped out of the way to avoid the reflected beams of fire and electricity. The moment all three landed on the ground, the earth began to rumble.

Before anyone else could say anything, Pikachu cried, "JUMP!" Unfortunately, he was the only one who jumped because the other two couldn't hear him over the loud rumbling.

BOOM!

Rocks collapsed on top of both Luigi and Samus, and the ground started to open up, attempting to swallow them. Samus safely grabbed on the ledge with her right hand. Luigi wasn't so lucky.

Samus quickly pointed her left arm at Luigi and shot her grappling beam, grabbing him and throwing him up back to safety. She jumped back on top of land, just to escape the ground from closing in on her.

"How do you like that?" said Nidoking. "Fissure… Followed by _Rock Slide_!"

Rocks fell out of nowhere from above. Luigi and Samus attempted to roll away to safety, but some unknown force held their feet on the ground. Samus and Luigi could do nothing as they felt the stinging pain of the sharp stalactites stabbing them from above.

"Ah ha ha! And what about that?" said Nidoking.

"Like I said, you have no chance against us!" said Alakazam.

"When the hell did you say that?" Pikachu came out of nowhere and tackled Nidoking from behind, knocking him off of his feet. Pikachu whirled around to see Alakazam preparing a deadly psychic attack.

"_Psybeam_!"

Rings of violet circles of energy shot out from Alakazam's hands towards Pikachu. Pikachu tried to move his legs, but Alakazam was also pinning Pikachu to the ground with his mind.

Millimeters before the beams struck Pikachu, Luigi came out flying at Alakazam, bashing the side of Alakazam's head with a powerful karate chop. Because of the disruption in Alakazam's concentration, the Psybeam attack disappeared and Pikachu was freed from the ground.

Nidoking jumped at Pikachu with a Body Slam attack, about to squish him with his heavy weight. Pikachu quickly dashed out of the way with Agility as Nidoking struck nothing but solid ground. Samus aimed her arm cannon at Nidoking and released a charged Phazon shot.

"_Protect!_"

CLANG!

The Phazon shot deflected off of Nidoking and back at Samus. Before she knew what happened, she was struck with full force in the chest by her own blast, knocking her out.

"Samus!" Luigi cried, whirling around to look at his fallen comrade.

"Look away and you'll get killed! _Psychic_!" said Alakazam.

Getting struck by a psychic attack was a completely new experience for Luigi. He suddenly felt like all of his insides were mixed around then exploded, and felt a traumatizing headache as if his head was bashed against the wall over a million times. Luigi screamed as he grabbed his head and gripped it as hard as he could, almost ready to kill himself.

Worst of all, Alakazam had full control of Luigi's body.

Pikachu angrily released a Thunderbolt attack, aimed at Alakazam. Nidoking jumped right in front of him and absorbed the attack, feeling nothing at all.

"Remember, I'm immune to electricity!" said Nidoking as he dashed at Pikachu, swiping his claws at him. Pikachu jumped back, trying to stop Alakazam from controlling Luigi, but Nidoking was too big.

"Get the hell out of the way!" screamed Pikachu as he jumped in the air and swung his tail vertically downward at Alakazam. The blow knocked him lying on the ground as Pikachu landed on top of him. He crouched and started to spin in one spot, generating electricity all over his body (His down smash). Although Nidoking couldn't feel the electricity, he could certainly feel the physical blow from Pikachu's body. He was sent flying towards the wall, stunned momentarily. Pikachu released a more powerful Thunderbolt attack at Alakazam.

Suddenly, Luigi appeared between Pikachu and Alakazam, the electricity shocking every inch of his body. After his attack, Luigi fell down like a rag doll, smoking black.

"Shit! Luigi! I'm so sorry!"

"Making the same mistake, eh?" said Alakazam. "_Psychic_!"

Pikachu's body began to twitch as Alakazam's mind took total control over it. Pikachu hovered a couple feet above the ground, helpless and defenseless.

"Nidoking! Now!"

"Roger that!"

Nidoking got back onto his feet and approached the hovering Pikachu. He opened his mouth, showing his purple fangs.

"_Poison Fang_!"

He took a huge bite on Pikachu's body, injecting poison into it. If Pikachu wasn't being controlled, he'd scream in pain.

Pikachu screamed in pain.

So did Alakazam.

Luigi released as much electricity as he could into Alakazam's body after sneaking up from behind. After his sneak attack, Alakazam fell to the ground, still feeling the shocking pain traveling through his entire body.

"You like that?" Luigi sneered, flexing his green gloves. "A combination of my power and Pikachu's thunderbolt!"

Pikachu, ignoring the stinging pain spreading throughout his entire body, swerved in midair around Nidoking, who was still oblivious to what happened. Pikachu threw his head at Nidoking's back, using an attack we all should recognize.

"Skull Bash!"

Pikachu collided with Nidoking's back with the power of Luigi's fully charged Green Missile. Nidoking was sent flying forward, vulnerable on the ground. Before he could recover, Pikachu ran forward with another attack prepared.

"Double Edge!"

Pikachu curled into a ball and flung himself forward, striking Nidoking in the stomach with the full force of one of Jigglypuff's Rest attack. Nidoking had just gotten the wind blown out of him.

Right after Pikachu jumped off of Nidoking, there was the sound of a bone cracking. Pikachu held his shoulder in pain that he just broke from the Double Edge attack.

"You okay?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah… Double Edge is definitely named for being a Double Edged Sword…"

Luigi rolled his eyes. "Naw, REALLY?"

The Alakazam finally climbed back up on his feet. "You both are a lot more powerful than I thought…"

Nidoking finally got back on his feet, cracking his spine and ribs back into place. Very painfully.

Pikachu started to stoop low, struggling to even breath. _Shoot… The poison's starting to take place…_

"Pikachu."

"Yeah?"

"Let's take these bastards out as fast as possible."

"…Yeah. It's all for Ash."

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. Both Luigi and Pikachu flung themselves forward with Green Missile and Skull Bash, both aimed at Nidoking. Taken by surprise, Nidoking took the full impact in the face, destroying his skull and annihilating his brain.

Right there, Nidoking was killed.

"It looks like I have no choice," said Alakazam. "_Perish Song_!"

Suddenly, strange loud music played for two seconds, then it disappeared as sudden as it came.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Luigi.

"No… He's planning to take both of us down…" said Pikachu, coughing.

"What?"

"Perish Song is a kamikaze attack. It takes down both the user and its opponent, us. If we don't take out the user within one minute, then all of us will die."

Alakazam smirked. "As long as I accomplish my mission, I am happy," he said.

Luigi ignored him. "Well the answer is simple. We have to kill Alakazam in less than a minute."

They both glanced at him. "One minute?" asked Pikachu.

Luigi nodded. "Let's go." He swiftly shot several fireballs at Alakazam, who moved them to the side with his mind. He wavedashed towards Alakazam to instantly close the distance between then and he short hopped in front of Alakazam, releasing a powerful drill kick. Alakazam teleported directly behind Luigi, preparing a psychic attack.

Too bad for Alakazam, Pikachu was clinging onto Luigi's back. Right after Alakazam finally materialized, Pikachu landed on top of him.

"_Thunder_!"

Several giant bolts of lightning fell from above and struck Pikachu and Alakazam, much more powerful than Pikachu's SSBM Thunder attack. Pikachu jumped off, panting as he faced the smoking Alakazam.

Twenty seconds left…

"How do you like that?" he said confidently, still struggling to even stand now. Suddenly, Pikachu felt like his body had just exploded with electricity. He fell to the ground, yelping in pain.

"You completely fell for my trap! I used Mirror Coat, an attack that returns double the damage received by special attacks!" said Alakazam. He whirled around just in time to used another timed protect to deflect more fireballs from Luigi. He teleported directly in front of Luigi and muttered, "_Psychic…_"

Luigi felt the searing pain through his body again, crying. It was so painful, he actually wanted to die, tears streamed out from his eyes. Alakazam chuckled.

"I'm going to spend the last seconds of my life torturing you, my dear friend," he said.

Ten seconds left…

Pikachu tried to lift his head up, but the poison finally took full effect. He fainted, ready to face his death and failure.

_So this is how I'm going to die…_ both Luigi and Pikachu thought.

Three seconds left…

BOOM. Luigi and Pikachu most certainly did not die. Alakazam felt searing pain from Phazon on his back. He swiftly whirled around to felt a super missile from behind.

Two seconds left…

KABOOM. A grappling beam flung out of nowhere and grabbed Alakazam's neck, reeling him in towards Samus who was back in action!

One second left…

Samus quickly wrapped her arms around the still shocked Alakazam's neck and squeezed as hard as she could.

"Are you trying to choke me? It won't work on a psychic like…"

CRACK. Samus dropped Alakazam at the last second (literally), whose head was snapped off.

"Phew! That was a piece of cake!" she said, glaring down at the unconscious Luigi and Pikachu. She also noticed Nidoking who was killed.

"But you guys did a really good job. I can't believe I was knocked out like that… Damn it."

Next to the door that they came into the room from, a slot appeared on the wall. Samus walked towards it as it slid out a card key.

"So this is what we fought in this room for? I hope it isn't a phony. Get up, you guys!"

No sound from Luigi or Pikachu. Samus groaned as she picked them both up with her inhumane strength and walked through the door.

"It's time to help out the others…" She walked towards another door, the one Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff walked in, and attempted to open it.

Unfortunately, it was locked from the outside.

"…Shit!"

Luigi finally stirred awake. "Ugh… I swear, I saw a beautiful goddess and a shining light at the end of… something… Are you her?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. "Am I dead?"

Samus rolled her eyes. "No, you're completely dead and Samus is that beautiful goddess you know of."

Luigi jumped up. "Holy shit! You beat him? At the last second?"

"Well duh. But we can't help any of the others out."

"Why not?"

Samus tapped the door. "Locked."

Luigi sighed. "Well we'll have to see if this card's the right one and wait for the others. By the way, you have any medicine?"

"For what?"

"Poison. Pikachu's been poisoned by Nidoking."

"Oh, yeah, here." Samus took out a small bottle out of nowhere (actually from inside her suit) and gave it to Luigi. "Just put it into Pikachu's mouth and… You'll have to use CPR."

"WHAT?"

"Nah, just kidding, just inject it with this needle."

"All right, thanks. I couldn't have done anything today without him."

* * *

Captain Falcon started to spar with the Machamp with his two arms. Unfortunately for him, Machamp had four arms, so he was at a natural disadvantage. He kicked Machamp, who blocked with his arms. Falcon jumped away, grunting, and barely avoiding a deadly Cross Chop attack. Jigglypuff was holding off Gyarados with her fire attacks. Thing is, Gyarados is a water pokemon, and fire isn't very effective. 

_Shoot… I don't know any useful attacks besides Flamethrower!_ Jigglypuff jumped back as well, standing next to Captain Falcon.

"Falcon! I need support!"

"You'll need support all right…" a mysterious voice was heard.

SLASH. Falcon was taken down with one claw swipe.

SLASH. Gyarados was taken down with another swipe.

SLASH. Machamp took a deep cut from the third swipe.

SLASH. Jigglypuff narrowly avoided the last slash.

"Meowth! What the heck are you doing?" Jigglypuff screamed.

Meowth chuckled. "Doing my job!" he said. "You have no idea who I am, do you."

Meowth suddenly turned into a pitch dark shadow. He sunk into the ground and rose up again to form a different person, one who was familiar to the two smashers in the room.

"Black Shadow…"

Black Shadow smirked. "Heh! You thought right! And this was how you got into this world! I was disguised as Meowth to keep a check on you guys, but you all had ruined it all! I'll personally take care of you!"

Jigglypuff smiled. "Great! We can have all of the Ring of Darkness members we want to take them out! Check out my new abilities!"


	30. Chapter 30: Steel Defense

Hack: Too bad, none of you will be able to see Captain Falcon using his new powers yet… But you will be soon! Very soon!

And even though half of the Ring of Darkness is already wiped out, this story isn't CLOSE to being halfway over. I doubt it'll end with less than a hundred chapters.

Enjoy this action chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 30: Steel Defense**

"But I don't understand," said Jigglypuff. "Why did you leave the race in the middle of it?"

"There wasn't any point to it anymore," said Black Shadow. "Plus, why try to defeat you in a race… When I can kill you in a real fight?"

"You think you can beat me? We've already defeated half of your crew!"

Black Shadow shook his head. "Allow me to show you… The true power of the Ring of Darkness!"

FOOOM!

Black Shadow released an enormous beam of darkness at Jigglypuff, who crouched to barely dodge it. She quickly charged a rollout attack and released it at Black Shadow. When she made contact with his body, though, she suddenly rolled through him as if she rolled through nothing!

Black Shadow's body reformed after Jigglypuff blasted through him with rollout. "I tell you, there is no comparison between us," he said.

"_Flamethrower_!"

A beam of fire shot out from Jigglypuff's hands, aimed at Black Shadow's face. He simply stood there, laughing as the fire went through his body yet again.

"So you transform into dark particles whenever something tries to hit you…" said Jigglypuff.

"Not bad. You caught on quickly. That won't be enough to stop me, though!"

"_Rock Slide_!"

Another avalanche of rocks fell on top of Black Shadow, who used the same evasive maneuver to avoid it.

"Come on, now. Is that all you've got? I can dodge your attacks blindfolded, you fool!"

"_Agility_!"

Jigglypuff appeared right behind Black Shadow and kicked him in the back. She only felt the familiar dark substance as she struck him. Milliseconds afterwards, she appeared on top of Black Shadow and threw a powerful drill kick. Immediately, she sped right in front of him and used a powerful Mega Punch attack. Finally, she appeared directly on top of Black Shadow's back with insane speed.

REST!

Black Shadow was unaffected by all of these attacks, including the insanely powerful rest! He charged a powerful energy ball in front of the sleeping Jigglypuff. The moment she woke up, he released it.

BOOM.

There was a powerful explosion and Jigglypuff went flying into the wall, charred black. She was already next to death from that one attack, but barely conscious.

"All who oppose me must die," said Black Shadow as he prepared a final attack. Suddenly, he stopped approaching Jigglypuff. He grabbed a phone and opened it.

"Who is it? What the hell, right now? What do you mean you need me, you idiots?" he screamed. "I'm missing my chance to kill… Metaknight, what the hell do you mean by that isn't important? Obviously it's damn important, you bastard!

…Fine. Are you sure it's urgent? Fine! All right! Don't need to send Wolf at me!"

He closed his cell phone and glared at Jigglypuff, who was barely awake. "Consider yourself lucky, foolish puffball. Next time, I won't be so easy on you."

He disappeared into nowhere, leaving three unconscious bodies and an almost unconscious Jigglypuff.

_Is that what we're up against? Is that how powerful Mewtwo is? Oh my god… I've lost all hope…_

Jigglypuff closed her eyes, fading away into darkness.

Actually, she just fainted.

* * *

Fox and Falco faced both Skarmory and Scizor, glaring at them. 

"So they both look like they're made of metal," said Falco.

Fox rolled his eyes. "No, they're made of wood."

"There is no way you can penetrate our steel defense!" said Skarmory. "I have the most defense out of all of Giovani's pokemon!"

Scizor returned the glare to Fox and Falco. "I supposed you both never had any experience in fighting steel pokemon?"

"Naw, not at all," said Fox.

"But it wouldn't matter at all," said Falco. "In fact, we could probably beat you both single handed," he taunted.

"Well we'll see about that," said Skarmory. "_Agility_!"

Scizor closed his eyes as well. "_Agility_!"

"Um… Didn't Jigglypuff use that ability?" asked Falco.

"Yeah, they're both probably insanely fast now."

SWISH

SLASH

With perfect reflexes, Fox rolled under Scizor, who attempted to slash him with blinding speeds. Falco jumped up high to avoid getting a painful whack from Skarmory's steel wings. He quickly pulled out his blaster and fired Scizor, who was recovering from his attack. Although the shot made contact with Scizor's head, he was completely unaffected!

Fox attacked next. He short hopped into the air and swung his staff vertically at Scizor, feeling it harmlessly clang off of his metal body. He whirled around in midair and swung his tail, still not harming Scizor. He finally landed and used a powerful upward flip kick on Scizor.

All he accomplished was insane pain in his two legs from the impact on steel.

"SHIT!" he cried. Ever tried kneeing a steel door with as much power as you can? Yeah, Fox is probably feeling twice as much pain.

Scizor laughed. "I told you, there is no way you can damage us!" He quickly flew towards Falco, who was still high up in the air. Skarmory pursued Falco as well, preparing a powerful attack with his beak.

"_Metal Claw_!"

"_Drill Peck_!"

Scizor's claw came flying at Falco's head. He bent his body back to avoid the powerful impact on his head.

Next came a spinning metal beak, aimed at Falco's body. He swiftly pointed his body downwards, barely dodging the attack.

Falco (still in the air) wrapped his legs around Skarmory's neck and pointed his body down again. He spun and threw his body towards the ground, carrying Skarmory with his legs as he used a drill kick to spin. When he collided with the ground a second later, there was a huge crack in the ground, with Skarmory's beak stuck in it.

But he was still not harmed at all!

After recovering from his pain, Fox charged his staff. He slammed it into the ground, creating an enormous shockwave traveling across the ground, striking Skarmory.

Skarmory screamed in pain as he felt the earth piercing through his steel body.

"What the fuck? You said that you were practically immune!" said Fox.

Skarmory quickly flew back up into the air. "That was close!" he said.

"I should've known…" said Falco.

"What?" asked Fox.

"I know that every type of pokemon has a weakness. And apparently, ground based attacks are super effective against steel pokemon."

"…shit," both Scizor and Skarmory said.

"But they both have high defense. I doubt that they'll have high special defense. What special attacks can we use to defeat them?"

"I think that it's…"

"Shut it right there!" screamed Skarmory as he used another drill peck attack, aimed at Fox. Fox rolled to the side, avoiding the beak. He pointed his staff and fired several fireballs at Skarmory.

Skarmory shrieked in pain as he felt parts of his body melting.

"I knew it," said Fox.

"I won't allow you to do that!" said Scizor. Fox and Falco whirled around, completely forgetting about Scizor. Scizor grabbed both of them by the next, causing Fox to drop his staff. Scizor threw both his claws into the ground, nearly cracking Fox and Falco's neck.

"_Vicegrip_!"

He finally released the two space animals from his claws as Skarmory appeared next to him.

"Pah! What pussies," said Scizor.

"I'm surprised they found out our weaknesses, though. It won't help them now without that weapon of his!"

"_Fire Fox_!"

"_Fire Bird_!"

Fox and Falco charged their flaming tackle attacks, catching the two steel pokemon by surprise. They fired themselves at the pokemon, attempting to melt them. Scizor and Skarmory both dashed out of the way, agility still in effect.

"Damn, we missed," said Fox, cracking his bleeding, broken nose back into place… Very painful.

"But we gave away the surprise, so I doubt they'll let us fight close range," said Falco, jerking his neck to fix the bones. His entire beak was almost snapped off, the top beak cracked.

"_Spikes_!" cried Skarmory. He threw several black spiny balls, scattering them all over the floor.

"What the hell?" said Falco.

Scizor smirked. "An excellent idea, Skarmory! They cannot move unless they wish to feel complete pain by stepping on the spikes!"

Skarmory smiled. "And then they can't reach us with those fire attacks!"

"You said something about us not moving at all?" said Fox as he was in a different place, grabbing his staff. His feet were completely impaled by the spikes, and he was obviously in pain by jerking his head, but he didn't care.

_We have to save Ash!_

BOOM.

He fired several more fireballs at the two steel beings, who swiftly dodged in the air.

"Holy shit! Fox!" said Falco, not moving an inch. "Why are you…"

"Every battle counts. We have to do everything we can to win!" said Fox. Falco closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. He opened his eyes.

"If that's the case, I'll be with you at all times."

"What?"

"You're my leader. I'll follow you and do whatever you order me to."

Fox smiled. "Fine. But remember that we're still rivals and friends."

Falco jumped off of the ground, feeling the spikes being magnetized to his body and stabbing him everywhere. Ignoring the pain, he reached Skarmory and prepared a fire bird attack.

…But he missed. He fell towards the ground, landing on hundreds of tiny spikes. By now, all of his feathers were stained red by his own blood.

Scizor charged towards Falco, holding out his claw. He used another Metal Claw attack and finally struck, cracking Falco's skull. He grabbed Falco's body and threw it towards the wall, landing it on more spikes.

"FALCO!" cried Fox, but he couldn't run to help his comrade as a whirlwind blocked his way.

"No helping your friend!" said Skarmory as he blew another whirlwind at Fox. He rolled to his left to dodge the attack and…

…not feel any spikes!

_What the hell?_

He looked at where he was a second before and saw all of the spikes there gone!

_What a stupid pokemon… His whirlwind attacks must've blown his spikes away._

…_FALCO!_

He turned to face Falco, who was beaten like a rag doll by Scizor's metal claws.

"…and for the finale… _Cross Chop_!"

Scizor crossed his claws in an X form and prepared to slash Falco with them.

SLASH!

Fox appeared between Falco and Scizor, taking the blow. He felt two deep cuts in his chest, blood spurting out everywhere.

Falco finally opened his eyes again. "…Fox?" He saw Fox right in front of him, taking the blow for him.

"Fox! No!"

Fox fell to the ground, right in front of Falco. Ignoring his insane headache and broken bones, he grabbed Fox.

"Fox! What the fuck were you thinking?"

"…It's all for… Our friends… At least it's not as bad... as Metaknight's slash..." he murmured.

"No! I can't face these two alone! I need you! Get up, you idiot!"

Fox sat up weakly. "Falco…"

Falco's eyes lit up. "Fox, stay alive for just another minute. I have a plan. Please, don't die yet. Get your damn staff out."

_I can't give up…There's no way I can._

"All right!" Fox stood up, legs shaking and blood pouring out everywhere. He drew his staff out as Falco jumped past Fox and Scizor. Skarmory was still in the air, hovering and looking down on them.

"Throw it!" cried Falco. Fox held his staff like a javelin and threw it with his leftover strength at Scizor. Scizor simply flew out of the way, the staff aimed at Falco now.

"What the fuck?" cried Fox, but Falco used his own reflector move!

And the staff was deflected… Back at Fox! He smiled.

_Of course!_

Fox turned on his own reflector, back at Falco in a millisecond.

_Our reflector deflects any projectile… And turns it more powerful!_

They both kept deflecting the staff between each other, turning it into a more powerful projectile. After three seconds, when it was deflected over a thousand times between them, Falco pointed his reflector up at Skarmory. The staff was shot upwards towards Skarmory at the speed of sound.

Not realizing the staff was shot towards him, Skarmory could only scream as it struck him.

Well actually he couldn't scream at all, because the staff shot through his metal head so fast that it blew up his brain, instantly killing him.

But before the staff embedded itself in the ceiling, Falco appeared near the ceiling, deflecting it back at Scizor.

Finally getting the gist of what was happening, Scizor caught the staff between his claws with insane reflexes. It was spinning so fast that it peeled off some of the metal in his claws!

"UGH!" cried Scizor as he released the staff. The staff flew past his face, scratching off some metal on his face. Fox slowly rolled forward and caught his staff.

Falco used his own drill kick on Scizor's exposed bug face. Unlike other people's drill kicks, Falco's is one powerful blow that sends people flying down. That was exactly what happened.

Scizor was blasted down through the ground and into the empty floor below.

_Didn't Meowth say that the floors weren't penetrable?_ Falco thought, but he had no time. He had to execute his final plan. Now.

"Fox! Get your staff!" cried Falco. Fox nodded as he held it again and looked up, seeing Falco still using his powerful drill kick.

"What the fuck?" cried Fox.

"Block this!"

Fox held his staff up, blocking Falco's drill kick. He felt his staff spinning in his hands, and he finally understood the plan.

…_Nice plan, Falco!_

Fox was blasted, though harmlessly, through the ground. He was directly above Scizor, spinning like an insanely fast top. He took out two rocket launchers and shot them at Scizor, who was still lying on the ground, recovering.

From the momentum of Fox's spinning, the missiles spun around each other at insane speeds, striking Scizor. He was completely unharmed, though it kept him on the ground longer.

That was all the time Fox needed.

Fox threw his staff again at Scizor's body. It sailed downward like a spinning missile and stabbed through Scizor's metal defense.

Scizor's metal armor completely shattered, revealing a weak red Scyther (pre-evolution of Scizor) below.

Scizor (now Scyther) screamed as Fox was still spinning. He pointed himself downwards at Scyther, headfirst, and plunged forward, STILL spinning.

The moment he made contact with Scyther's body, Scyther was split into two. Green blood splattered everywhere as Fox jumped off, almost about to faint. Falco landed next to him and yanked the staff out of the ground.

"Take that, damn bitch!" screamed Fox, holding his fist up into the air.

Falco smiled. "Finally… I can't believe this is nothing compared to what we're up against next…"

Fox sighed. He grabbed his stomach, still flooding with blood. "Shit… I'm losing blood…"

Falco took out a white strap and carefully wrapped it around Fox, stopping the bleeding. "Don't move. It'll only make it worse."

"I've _been_ through worse, Falco!"

"Oh yeah, the Metaknight crap…"

"You better take it easy too. You got almost half of your bones broken."

Falco shook his head, still feeling a major headache. He coughed out blood, then said, "Nah, I'll be fine."

A card key fell out of nowhere and fell on top of Falco's head. He caught it and looked at it.

"And this is what we were looking for! Let's go, Fox. I'll carry you."

"…You do that."

Falco heaved Fox on his shoulder and walked to the elevator, ready to meet up with whoever finished their battle.

But with Luigi, Pikachu, Fox, and Falco heavily injured, they are practically no match for Mewtwo, one might say. Mewtwo was undoubtedly going to be the most powerful enemy they will face next.

* * *

Luigi and Samus jammed the card into the slot outside of the elevator, Samus carrying Pikachu. 

"Shit!" cursed Samus. "This doesn't work!"

Suddenly, a mechanical voice was heard. "Access to floor thirty confirmed!"

"Huh?" said Luigi.

Falco, carrying Fox, appeared at the elevator door. Falco held up the card key triumphantly.

"This is the right one!" he said, smiling.

Luigi and Samus opened their eyes wide. "Holy shit!" they both exclaimed.

"Now we can face Mewtwo… To save Ash and the universe!" said Luigi.

"But what about Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff?"

They both looked back. "We can't check up on them, because the door's locked."

Pikachu finally woke up. "We have… no time. We have to go… now."

"But Pikachu…" Falco started.

Pikachu interrupted Falco. "We have to save… Ash. My best… friend. Now! The three others can get the idea if we're all gone, they'll know that… **cough** unlocked the floor! We have to go! NOW!"

Luigi sighed. "Yeah, we have no time to lose. Let's go now."

The five smashers entered the elevator and pressed the thirtieth floor button, bringing the elevator up.

"You all ready?" gasped Fox.

"Definitely," Samus held her arm cannon up.


	31. Chapter 31: The Ultimate Pokemon

Hack: I typed this chapter up the same day as the previous chapter, but I wanted to give a day before posting it. Why did I type it up? I don't know. I was bored. I wasn't really rushing, but oh well.

Fight with Mewtwo! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 31: The Ultimate Pokemon**

All of the smashers, excluding the knocked out Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff, entered a dark, mysterious room.

"Ouch… It's so damn dark in here," said Falco. Fox was finally able to stand by himself without falling down, yet Pikachu was still unable to walk.

"That's Mewtwo for you," said Pikachu, still coughing. "He's a psychic pokemon, so his weaknesses are Ghost, Dark, and Bug type attacks."

Luigi frowned. "I don't really think any of us have any of those kinds of attacks… But if we do, Mewtwo would probably know."

They all approached another steel door. Knowing that Mewtwo was behind it, everyone got themselves ready.

Unfortunately, our group is definitely not in top condition.

Pikachu was still recovering from the poison by Nidoking, and skull damage.

Luigi's body is still recuperating from the consistent psychic attacks from Alakazam.

Fox is still severely wounded in the chest, though not as bad as the wound from Metaknight.

Falco's bones are all broken and disconnected, only thing supporting his bones are his muscles.

Samus is the only one who isn't severely injured.

Which explains why Fox said, "Samus, we're going to have to depend on you the most."

Samus nodded. "Of course. I'll give him what he wants," she said.

The door suddenly opened. Everyone stood there silent.

"Who bets money that Mewtwo knows we're here?" asked Falco, smirking.

"Oh, shut up!" said Samus.

Fox drew his staff and Luigi planted his hands together, with Pikachu on his shoulder. Falco readied his blaster and Samus, her arm cannon.

"Let's go," said Fox.

All five walked into another large room, completely pitch black. The steel door suddenly shut behind them and the bright figure of Mewtwo appeared out of thin air. It certainly wasn't a secret that Mewtwo used telepathy to converse with others.

_Welcome to my hideout, smashers. I have been…_ he started.

Samus rolled her eyes. "Expecting us, DUH!"

Mewtwo's facial expression remained unchanged. _Very well. You dare to mock me, the ultimate pokemon ever to have existed?_

"Of course we do!" said Luigi. "I knew we could never have trusted you as a smasher, your self-isolation, secret projects, everything you did back at the smash mansion!"

_So you were all foolish enough to let me trespass. But if you were suspicious of me, what about Ganondorf? Or perhaps Doctor Mario? They were also involved with the Ring of Darkness, as you very well know. Especially creating the Endowment of Exigency. Those fools never revealed to me their secrets._

Fox spoke up. "For a good cause, too. They don't want people like you abusing the power. They rejected their invitations to the Ring of Darkness. But what about you, Mewtwo? You decided to join them."

_Because there is far greater gain for me._

"Greater gain for you? Or greater gain for everyone?" started Luigi. "You're just a selfish asshole that only gives a shit about themselves. Your influence may as well destroy the entire universe."

Mewtwo chuckled. _You have no idea what we plan…_

"Ganondorf told us," said Samus. "You guys plan to create more of the Endowment of Exigency for yourselves so you can all grow more powerful."

Mewtwo finally blew up. He started to laugh like a madman. _That's all you know? That's it? We have far more plans than that. You only have one of our plans down. We have much more in store, especially for you, Samus!_

Everyone looked at Samus. "I… I don't know what you're talking about."

_Pah! Foolish mortal. Very well._

"What do you wish to accomplish in here anyways?" asked Falco. "What the fuck do you hope to gain from controlling Team Rocket?"

_Ha ha! There's another plan for me! I am the most powerful pokemon trainer in the world, no, in the entire universe! There is none like me! And most of all, I am the ultimate pokemon! With these powers, I am able to control all pokemon under my command! We shall kill all of those pathetic humans that have controlled our lives for far too long!_

"Humans and pokemon have been coexisting in peace! What the hell are you talking about?" asked Pikachu.

_I'll tell you. Forcing us to fight each other is an example. Grooming us pokemon and entrapping us in pokeballs is torture enough. We have lived far longer than the humans on this planet. All humans shall die!_

"So you're talking about human genocide…" murmured Luigi.

_Yes, I am. There is absolutely nothing any of you can do. I am the ultimate pokemon._

"Another question," said Fox. "If you're the ultimate pokemon, how come you're ranked below the others like Alex, Wolf, Black Shadow, and Metaknight? They aren't even damn psychics!"

_Ah, they are allies. They are my friends that are willing to help me accomplish my goals. In return, I help them accomplish their goals._

_I have already done all of my part. I do not care if they are more powerful than me._

"Mewtwo!" said Pikachu. "Why the hell did you kidnap Ash, Misty, and Brock? What the hell did you do to them?" he demanded. "Answer me!"

_Oh, why did I kidnap them? It should be obvious, it's to lure you all here so I can annihilate you all. I received news that Ridley was barely defeated, meaning that the others are too powerful for you all. However, after hearing of Cackletta and Vaati's defeat, I learned that you are all growing too powerful. As a last favor from the Ring of Darkness, I must kill you all._

"You fucking bastard…" Pikachu growled, sparks lightly flying out from his red spotted cheeks.

_Oh, you don't want to be fighting me in your condition. You're just too weak. You even got poisoned by Nidoking. What a pathetic pokemon you are._

Pikachu was about to jump at Mewtwo when Luigi grabbed him from behind, shaking his head. "No, he's only provoking you."

"Mewtwo… You have hurt my friends, and you have hurt one who is precious to my friend," Fox started. "I swear to god, I will make sure that you will disappear from this world into fucking hell!"

Mewtwo smirked. _Pah! Are you sure about that? I am far too powerful for you all…_

BOOM.

Samus fired a super missile at Mewtwo, who teleported out of the way and on ground. Fox and Falco jumped towards him, legs raised to kick him.

_Foolish mortals._

Both Fox and Falco were repelled by an invisible force, thrown to the ground. Fox cried in pain, holding his wounds with his hands.

"Fox!" Falco cried. "Don't do anything too dangerous, you idiot!"

Luigi wavedashed towards Mewtwo and drew his hand back, ready to hit Mewtwo in the face with a karate chop.

_I can read your every move._

Mewtwo did nothing as Luigi wavedashed backwards, thinking that Mewtwo would have attacked. He wavedashed back forward and threw his hand at Mewtwo.

CLANG

An invisible forcefield repelled Luigi's attack, pushing him backwards. Mewtwo closed his eyes, facing Luigi.

_Psychic…_

Luigi screamed again, being struck by the third Psychic attack (must suck to be him). He held his head as if he has an insane seizure, and he coughed out blood, still letting out a high-pitched scream.

KZAPPP

Pikachu released a net of electricity that surrounded Mewtwo like a fishnet. He released his attack, causing volts of electricity to pelt Mewtwo. Unfortunately, Mewtwo instantly teleported out and appeared behind Pikachu.

_Shadow Ba…_

BOOM

_AUGH!_

Mewtwo was struck by dark matter, clinging him in one place. He was stuck there, unable to do anything as he released Luigi from his grasp. Samus smiled.

"Like my dark beam? I know you psychics don't like dark attacks. Darkburst!"

A black spherical hole appeared where Mewtwo was, but Mewtwo escaped from the sticky substance too quickly. He quickly teleported out and near Fox.

"Get the fuck away from him!" screamed Falco, shooting his blaster at Mewtwo, yet hitting a barrier that caused it to ricochet… Towards Fox.

"Fuck!" Falco screamed. Fox instantly jumped back on his feet painfully, but he turned on his reflector, deflecting the blasts back at Mewtwo. Not expecting this, Mewtwo was struck by the several blaster shots, but he wasn't in too much pain.

_You have teamwork… I must commend you for that. However, it will end there._

He grabbed both Falco and Fox by their necks, one on each hand. He zapped them with psychic energy, and both instantly fell unconscious, their bodies falling to the ground like saggy rag dolls.

"Holy shit!" the three other smashers exclaimed, but there was no time to worry. Mewtwo appeared directly behind Luigi, ready to pull the same maneuver.

_Not this time! I'm not going to let you do what Metaknight did to me back at the mansion! _Luigi thought. He quickly whirled around and ducked, avoiding Mewtwo's grab. He kicked Mewtwo's leg, tripping him, and Luigi finally struck with another karate chop attack, sending Mewtwo towards Pikachu.

Pikachu crouched, closing his eyes. His tail suddenly turned into steel, and aimed it at Mewtwo.

"Iron Tail!" cried Pikachu as he swung it at Mewtwo's face, almost destroying his skull. Mewtwo was sent flying back at Samus, who released another Darkburst combo. Mewtwo was sucked into the hole and into nothingness.

"That was… too easy," said Samus.

Luigi looked around. "Something's not right… That was WAY too easy."

BOOM

Luigi took a full blow in the back of his head from a fully charged Shadow Ball.

_Do you seriously believe that double team copy of mine is my actual power? I do not think so!_

Mewtwo released another Shadow Ball at Samus, who attempted to move, but her feet were stuck on the ground!

Moments before the Shadow Ball reached her face, Samus transformed into a ball, narrowly avoiding it. Pikachu slowly jumped in front of the Shadow Ball and used another Iron Tail on it, deflecting it back at Mewtwo.

The Shadow Ball suddenly curved and struck its nearest target: Luigi!

Luigi cried in pain again as he was struck hard in the stomach this time. Mewtwo cackled.

_I control all with my mind! Psychic!_

Both Pikachu and Luigi's body were struck by Psychic again (Luigi's fourth time). Both screamed in agony, like banshees this time. Samus acted quickly. She ran towards Mewtwo from a distance, preparing to use her…

_Speed Booster, eh?_

Before Samus knew that Mewtwo read her mind, she initialized her attack, running through a barrier.

_Counter!_

Mewtwo was struck by full force of Samus's Speed Booster, coughing out blood. However, Samus was in much worse condition.

_You fool! Counter is a defensive ability that returns double the damage from any physical attack!_

Samus crouched, clutching her chest in pain and coughing out gallons of blood. Then she smiled. "At least I stopped your Psychic attack!"

Mewtwo created another barrier around him to deflect a fireball and thunderbolt attack, which both Luigi and Pikachu dodged.

_Sludge Bomb…_

A purple sphere appeared above Pikachu and fell on him, splashing him with poison substance. Before long, Pikachu was poisoned once again, coughing out blood at every second.

Mewtwo spun around and created another barrier to block Samus's grappling beam. She smiled.

"Have fun."

She released a wavebuster beam. The violet electric beam flew through the air and curved around Mewtwo. Mewtwo quickly formed another barrier, but felt nothing hit it!

"I knew you'd try to form another barrier! Luigi!" said Samus.

Luigi quickly absorbed all of the wavebuster attack with his absorption gloves. "Thanks, Samus!" said Luigi, picking up Pikachu who was almost unconscious.

"Pikachu! Are you all right?"

"Ha… Not bad…"

_Psychic!_

Pikachu's body floated in the air. Mewtwo's eyes were blood red, threatening to pull Pikachu's body apart.

_I'll tear your body into two! I am sick of your presence now!_

Pikachu's body started to widen when Luigi quickly released a fireball at Mewtwo. Mewtwo effortlessly deflected it with a barrier. Samus released another Dark Beam shot, which was deflected yet again.

"Samus!" Luigi cried. "Help Pikachu!"

Samus nodded. "Ren Kiu!"

Samus disappeared and Mewtwo looked around, still trying to pull Pikachu's body apart.

_What? How did you attain Ren Kiu so quickly?_

Ten dark beam shots came at Mewtwo from ten different directions. Unable to concentrate hard enough to block them all and control Pikachu at the same time, he had no choice but to release Pikachu and block the attacks.

Pikachu's body was charred black now, and his body was definitely in no condition to fight.

"No… I won't allow you to kill Ash!" cried Pikachu, struggling to stand up.

_A human? All humans deserve to die…_

"ASH IS MY BEST FRIEND! I WON'T LET YOU DO ANYTHING TO HIM!"

Pikachu charged his body and looked at Luigi. "Luigi… Get… Ready!"

Luigi nodded as he opened his palms. Pikachu's body suddenly exploded, releasing ten times more electricity than Thunder, all towards Luigi. Luigi absorbed it all into his gloves and look at Pikachu, who was unconscious and next to death from overcharge.

"Pikachu… why did you do that?" said Luigi.

"Because he loves his best friend too much," Samus replied, shaking her head.

_It is because he is an optimistic fool that is in complete denial._

"You fucking… I'll show you complete denial!" cried Luigi. He released as much electricity as he could toward Mewtwo, combining both Samus and Pikachu's electric attacks. Mewtwo created another barrier to block it, but the attack was so powerful that it blasted through the barrier. Mewtwo could do nothing except use…

_Mirror Coat…_

Mewtwo's body exploded, but so did Luigi's body, who took twice the damage because of Mirror Coat. Luigi was completely black and charred, his body almost malfunctioning from the electricity. He fell to the ground, unsconsious and next to death.

_What a fool… You may have defeated my current form…_

Samus gasped. "No… No… You can't… We already went through so much…"

_Oh really? You should have expected this! You are using… REN KIU!_

Mewtwo's body appeared before Samus, gray, mechanical parts attaching themselves to him. His power suddenly increased fivefold, able to control almost anything with his mind.

_I am the ultimate pokemon! Psychic!_

Samus's body suddenly trembled, feeling the power of Psychic, except ten times more violent. In a second, her body gave a lurch and she fell to the ground, taken out just like that. Mewtwo eyes all five bodies around him.

_What fools… They really are so weak. They are already almost dead from my personally trained pokemon! I should…_

PUNCH!

REST!

SPIKED!

REST!

KNEED!

REST!

FALCON PUNCHED!

Mewtwo's body almost broke into two as he was sent flying into the wall. Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff both smiled.

"You forgot about us, you know," said Captain Falcon.

"It's pretty rude, Mewtwo!" Jigglypuff added.

_Ah… You both recovered fast. You caught me by surprise. Very well. I shall make your end come faster…_

A slow replay of what happened after Mewtwo thought, _I should…_

Captain Falcon appeared behind Mewtwo and punched him in the back of the head. Mewtwo was sent flying two feet, where Jigglypuff used Rest. Mewtwo was sent flying up for a quarter of a second when Captain Falcon poked Jigglypuff to wake her up. At the end of the quarter of a second, Captain Falcon appeared directly above Mewtwo and threw his legs into him, shooting him down at Jigglypuff, who used Rest again. Mewtwo was sent to the side this time, as Captain Falcon woke Jigglypuff up and dashed in front of Mewtwo, kneeing him with powerful electricity. Jigglypuff used another rest attack, sending Mewtwo towards Falcon, who was charging a Falcon Punch attack.

This all happened in less than one second.


	32. Chapter 32: The Inhumane Truth

Hack: Some more action with Mewtwo, but it's still not over! It's not as much as the last chapter, so bear with me. The next chapter shall be the end of the fight! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 32: The Inhumane Truth**

"Look, Spekkio, Vivian," Gaspar instructed as the two other beings stood behind him. All three were peering down a hole, watching the fight with Mewtwo.

"They really put their new skills to good use," said Spekkio. "I seriously think that the universe can be saved now."

Vivian smiled. "I concur. But we haven't seen my student put them to full use yet…"

"Both of you, look. This is their first fight together against Mewtwo. What you two taught them… That will greatly enhance their teamwork. There is no doubt that their teamwork is the key weapon against Mewtwo. Without it, they have no chance," explained Gaspar.

Spekkio turned to Vivian. "How did Captain Falcon move that fast anyways?"

"He sinks into the shadow, so he can appear any other shadow connected to that spot at any time. He is much faster that way, improving his speed abilities."

Gaspar spoke up again. "They must defeat Mewtwo as soon as possible before he can break their teamwork."

"How can he break it?" asked Spekkio. "They're both really good friends!"

"…I am distraught. When I see into the future, Mewtwo has found a way to break their weapon.

And he will break their ties severely…"

* * *

Both Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff faced the robotic Mewtwo, who was now in his all powerful Ren Kiu form. 

"So that's his Ren Kiu form?" asked Captain Falcon.

"Yes, his psychic abilities are five times more powerful than before," answered Jigglypuff.

_Of course they are. Your friends were unable to defeat my original form, and I defeated Samus within two seconds. Judging from their power, I would say that Luigi is the most powerful of all six of you. And you say that you two can defeat me when I killed Luigi._

"You have no fucking idea what we've got in store…" said Falcon. "I know your damn tricks. I can read you."

_Oh ho? You can read me? That's an interesting claim._

"Then I'll keep that claim! Let's go, Jiggly!"

"Okay!"

_Psychic…_

CLANG

"Sorry!" said Jigglypuff as both she and Falcon ran towards Mewtwo. "Protect hates letting us get hit! _Agility_!"

FOOM

Both smashers were running at blinding speeds now, running around Mewtwo who was simply standing there.

_Confusion_!

CLANG

Jigglypuff used another Protect on Captain Falcon, who was Mewtwo's target. Before Mewtwo could react. Captain Falcon threw his knee into Mewtwo again, sending him at the wall. Before he collided with it, Mewtwo disappeared. He quickly appeared behind Jigglypuff, grabbing her. Before long, her body turned into gold dust, completely annihilating her.

_What? Is this…_

"Double Team!" Three Jigglypuffs came from behind and gave a powerful Mega Punch attack behind Mewtwo. Mewtwo quickly created a force field that repelled all three punches.

_Damn it! Psychic!_

All three Jigglypuffs floated in the air, controlled by Mewtwo. Mewtwo repelled another punch from behind by Falcon as he proceeded to crush the bodies.

All three Jigglypuffs turned into dust!

_What is this? I cannot read their minds!_

"Because we're moving too fast for you," said Falcon as he gave Mewtwo a punch in the front. Mewtwo blocked it with his barrier again, but he didn't notice the real Jigglypuff from behind using…

REST!

Captain Falcon used a Raptor Boost attack on the flying Mewtwo, sending him upwards after the successful rest attack. Mewtwo quickly retained fighting position, but he saw over five Captain Falcons running around him in midair.

_What?_

"You missed the speed trick," said Falcon as he used his infamous leg thrusting spike, sending Mewtwo down towards Jigglypuff, who was about to wake up.

Jigglypuff prepared herself for another rest attack.

_Counter…_

"Psych!" said Jigglypuff as she released a beam of fire, engulfing Mewtwo. "Flamethrower is not a physical attack!"

_Ugh!_

Mewtwo recovered from the fire attack and floated in the air. He eyed his two enemies standing on the ground, facing him.

_I see… I believe I shall use my Ren Kiu's full potential now. You two are worthy of that._

"We're fucking worthy of anything, you pussy cat!" said Captain Falcon.

_You dare call me pussy cat? I'll show you pussy cat, you filthy human! Metal Sound!_

CLANG

"Too late!" said Jigglypuff, blocking the attack with her protect ability.

_You can only use protect for so long, puff ball… And you have run out of stamina to use it for the day!_ _Psychic!_

Mewtwo was right, Jigglypuff was unable to use protect any longer. Captain Falcon's body floated in the air, feeling the same pain that Luigi and Pikachu felt, except ten times worse.

"FUCK! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME! STOP IT!" he screamed. "STOP IT NOW! OR JUST KILL ME!"

"Amnesia! Followed by Baton Pass!" said Jigglypuff. Her body suddenly disappeared and a piece of paper was left behind. Captain Falcon suddenly stopped screaming and broke out of Mewtwo's psychic attack!

"Holy shit… That was crazy… I never want to experience that again!" said Falcon.

_What? How can you learn Baton Pass?_

Jigglypuff appeared again. "I just did. It allows me to pass on my new statistical traits to whoever I want, who was Captain Falcon. I doubled my special defense, so his special defense was doubled as well, allowing him to break out of your psychic attack!"

_Smart… Not bad for a pathetic puffball._

"Teleport!" cried Jigglypuff as she disappeared again. She appeared directly on Mewtwo's back.

_I won't allow you to use Rest again!_

Mewtwo attempted to twirl his body around in an attempt to shake Jigglypuff off, but he couldn't move!

"Heh… Now I finally get to show off my new skills…" said Falcon. His shadow extended all the way to Mewtwo, completely trapping him on the spot.

_What is that power you use?_

"That's for me to know, bitch!"

REST!

Mewtwo felt the sharp pain on his back from the rest attack again, but his body stood still, unable to move anything except his mouth. Five seconds later, Jigglypuff woke up again.

"It's time for drastic measures!" cried Jigglypuff. "Double Team!"

Where there should be one Jigglypuff were now five Jigglypuffs. All five jumped on Mewtwo again, using…

REST TIMES FIVE!

Mewtwo cried in pain, actually cried physically. It was so painful, it was more painful than his own Ren Kiu psychic attack! But because of Captain Falcon's shadow, he still stood at the same spot.

"Like a taste of your own medicine?" asked Jigglypuff, after waking up. Her four other clones disappeared as she held her hands together. "_Psychic_!"

Captain Falcon let go of Mewtwo, leaving him to Jigglypuff. Mewtwo floated in the air like a rag doll, having his arms and legs twisted around by Jigglypuff's mind. His back was bent all the way, snapping the bones in half.

_Noooo! Let me go!_

"AUGH!" Mewtwo physically cried as Jigglypuff finally released him, panting. Mewtwo was on the ground, next to death.

Jigglypuff stood over Mewtwo. "Had enough, Mewtwo?" she asked.

_No! That was from my… My future… It was true…_

"What future?" Falcon asked. "You have no fucking future now!"

A light bulb lit up in Mewtwo's head, causing him to evilly smile.

_I know something that you might be a bit interested in, Captain Falcon…_

"What? What the hell are you talking about?" asked Falcon. Jigglypuff opened her eyes wide and suddenly looked worried.

_Something about Jigglypuff, of course!_

BAM

Jigglypuff laid a powerful Mega Punch attack on Mewtwo's face, cracking his skull. "Shut up!" she cried.

_I'll shut up… After Falcon hears what he deserves to hear!_

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

_You see, Jigglypuff, you should really be in my army since you hate..._

Another Mega Punch. "Shut up!" she repeated, tears swelling up in her eyes now.

_Too ashamed about your past, eh? Too ashamed to be reminded of what you've been thinking about every time you hid in the closet and cried? Too ashamed to have never told anyone in your life? Of course, all of us pokemon knew._

"Knew what?" Falcon asked, still eyeing Mewtwo.

_The infamous tyrant, Jigglypuff. Rather than tell you, I'll show you…_

Falcon shook his head, backing away. "No, I don't want to fuck with Jigglypuff's personal life."

_Oh, I think you'll fuck with her life. There's nothing you can do! I'm the ultimate pokemon!_

Both Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon were suddenly drawn into a whirlpool of white light.

* * *

Captain Falcon stood inside a wooden cabin, apparently the living room. Behind him was a green sofa facing a cabin-style fireplace. Outside the windows was a black background with yellow stars, obviously telling him that it was night. 

"What the fuck is this place?" he asked. "Where the hell are Mewtwo and Jigglypuff? What's going on here?"

Suddenly, an older man appeared by the doorway, accompanied by a small male child on his shoulders, crying happily in joy.

"Daddy!" the little kid cried. "I can't wait until mommy's here! Then we can open all the presents!"

The father smiled. "Yes, Joan, you're going to love my present!"

Both of them sat by a Christmas tree, which was standing next to the fireplace. Captain Falcon eyed the father.

_This is getting scary… They didn't notice me? The famous Captain Falcon?_

Suddenly, there was a ringing noise. "I'm home, darling!" a woman cried. The little boy ran towards her and jumped on her, giving her a warm hug.

"Mommy!"

"Joan! You're home!"

"Mommy, can we open the presents? Now?"

The mother smiled. "Of course, darling, you can!"

The family of three sat next to the Christmas tree, watching the little boy opening his presents. The fact that none of them noticed the racer watching them was strange.

_I get it… I'm in the past or something. I'm just someone who's watching everything. But what the hell does this have to do with Jigglypuff? I don't want to mess with her fucking life! How do I get out of here?_

Captain Falcon tried to move, but his body wouldn't budge. He could do nothing but watch the family.

"Yay! A Pokedex!" the boy cried as he held up a red rectangular device. "Does this mean I get to be a pokemon trainer?"

"Of course, darling! You're ten years old, you're old enough to have your own pokemon!"

The father grinned. "I told you, lad, you're gonna enjoy this present!" He gave a pokeball to the boy. Excited and unable to hide his enthusiasm, he threw the pokeball into the middle of the room, opening it, causing it to release rays of white light.

"Oooo I hope it's a Machop! Or Pidgey? Or even a Scyther!"

The white light disappeared. What appeared before them was a Jigglypuff.

"Um… Hello?" said Jigglypuff, but the humans could only hear it as, "Jiggly?"

Captain Falcon gasped. _So this is Jigglypuff's memory!_

The young boy crossed his eyebrows, then tears swelled up. "Why, daddy, why?" he cried.

"What? What?"

"You got me a wimpy Jigglypuff! I told you I wanted a pokemon, but I didn't want a wimpy one like this!"

"You're calling me wimpy?" Jigglypuff asked, but again nobody could understand her except Falcon.

"I hate cutesy pokemon! I want ones that are all tough!" Without warning, the boy kicked Jigglypuff with all his might. She was knocked a few feet across the room. He ran towards her again, stomping on her.

"Joan! Stop it!" the mother cried as she grabbed his arms.

"Get off! I hate these pokemon!"

The father entrapped Jigglypuff inside the pokeball again. "You want a Scyther?" he asked. "All right, I'll get you one by next week."

"I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK!" the boy sobbed.

_Geez, what a spoiled asshole…_ Captain Falcon thought. He quickly shook his head.

_What a disgusting sight… I can't believe I was that spoiled…_ He suddenly shut up in his mind.

Captain Falcon's body suddenly started to move! The father was walking through a hall, and an invisible force pushed Falcon forward, following the father. Both were outside in the backyard now, the father wielding a whip. He released Jigglypuff from the pokeball.

"You are a disgusting sight to my son," he said to Jigglypuff. "You have made my son unhappy and you have left him unsatisfied. For that, I shall punish you for who you are."

Before Jigglypuff could respond, the father whipped her with all his strength, striking her directly in the right eye. Blood quickly started to flow out, but the father shot his whip out again, this time at her feet. He whipped her at every inch of her body, covering her in blood. She couldn't move anymore after the first whip.

The father grabbed Jigglypuff like a heavy balloon and walked a couple blocks down the street. Captain Falcon was forced to follow him. The father then threw Jigglypuff's body on the middle of the street.

"Sit there and die, you stupid cutesy pokemon," he said as he walked back home. The father disappeared, but Captain Falcon didn't follow him. Moments later, a car ran over Jigglypuff's already massacred body.

ZOOM

Another car ran over her body. Suddenly, Captain Falcon was drawn into more white light.

* * *

_One year later…_ a voice sounded around him as he appeared inside another house. 

"You're about to get your first pokemon!" a woman said to a small girl, obviously much younger than Joan. "Aren't you excited, Sara?"

Sara smiled with her enormous front teeth as she eyed the pokedex in her hands. A young man with glasses, brown hair, and in a white suit was inside the room, carrying a pokeball.

"Good morning!" he greeted.

"Good morning to you too, Professor Elm! Say hi to him, Sara!"

"Good morning!" Sara piped up.

"Yes, she certainly is nice enough to receive her first pokemon. Pokemon need care and love, after all, whether you want to groom them, fight with them, race them, and so on."

"So she's ready?" the mother asked anxiously.

Professor Elm nodded. "Of course. Here is your pokemon, Sara."

He released the pokeball, which revealed Jigglypuff, the same one. Falcon noticed that she still had many scars all over her pink spherical body, though they were faint.

Obviously the girl noticed this. "Ew! Get that monster away from me!" she cried, kicking Jigglypuff away. The two adults in the room gasped as the girl kicked Jigglypuff into the fireplace again, burning her body. Not wanting to feel any more pain, Jigglypuff rushed out of the house, jumping through a window. Captain Falcon was drawn into white light yet again.

* * *

Another year later… 

Unlike the past two times, Captain Falcon stood in what seemed like an office. He saw a giraffe standing over a desk and writing up some papers. Jigglypuff was sitting in a chair across from him.

"So you're another reject by humans?" asked Girafarig, a giraffe pokemon.

Jigglypuff nodded. "Yes. I'd love to give those damn bastards a taste of my own medicine. I have to grow stronger."

"How many times have you been rejected by humans?"

Jigglypuff frowned. "Lost count… At least ten times. All these scars are from those bitches."

"Well I dislike trainers as well. Most of us do. We in this community teach pokemon how to grow stronger, yet it has an intensive training schedule. We're even forming our own army for a rebellion!"

A Roselia (Rose pokemon) came into the room. "Girafarig! We have more letters for you!"

"Oh, more human hate letters, I suppose?" he asked.

Roselia nodded. "Yes! They're seriously getting on my nerves now! We pokemon seriously need a government or system to work."

Jigglypuff's eyes lit up. "So what are your plans?"

"Oh the usual. We're building a pokemon army strong enough to take on the humans. We want to wipe them out. It'll take us at least ten years to build one, but the time will be worth it."

"Really?"

"Yup. We also want to get rid of those Team Rocket bastards since they just get in the way, trying to control us all the time…"

Roselia smiled. "Destroy all those stupid pokemon contests they force us in!" she cried.

"Yes, yes, of course."

Captain Falcon's eyes widened. "Whoa…" he said. "This is going a bit too fucking crazy…"

"And you're the leader here?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Oh, no, I'm only one of the senates. I'm one of the ones that confirm and accept pokemon into the system."

"Oh…"

"The top is a Forretress. He's in command of the system, though really it's more like a democracy here. Care to join?"

Jigglypuff's hand slammed on the desk, evilly smiling. "Anything to get rid of those damn fucking humans that I hate so much that I'd dedicate my life to a human genocide!" she screamed.


	33. Chapter 33: Because You're My Friend

Hack: A slight delay, I'll only be able to submit a chapter per week about because of overloads of homework. Now that the first couple weeks of school have passed, I have to start doing my homework more. Don't expect as many updates anymore... I apologize.

This chapter is finally wrapping up the long fight with Mewtwo, and finishing Jigglypuff's memories. Enjoy...

* * *

**Chapter 33: Because You're My Friend  
**

_Eight Years later…_

Captain Falcon appeared in the exact same room again, except it was occupied with many more pokemon. Replacing a small office desk, a large circular table stood in the middle. Twelve pokemon sat around the table, Jigglypuff was one of them.

_What the fuck?_ Captain Falcon thought, looking around the group.

The same Girafarig stood up. "The council of the anti-human society shall now stand."

All twelve stood up from their chairs, though it wouldn't have mattered for some like Jigglypuff since they were so short.

"We have voted on the day for the attack," said Girafarig. "The day of the pokemon festival is our target day, we will attack all humans. At this meeting, we will discuss our plans of actions. First, we must vote on whether we must…"

Captain Falcon looked at Jigglypuff, who was still staring at her peers. "Wow…" he said. "This must be crazy… How old must she be, like…"

Jigglypuff raised her hand. "I would like to speak up. For my entire life, I've been abused and bashed by human trainers. The only reason that I was rejected was because of my scars or because we Jigglypuffs are supposedly… _weak_."

"mm hm…" said a Clefable, another council member. "And how old are you?"

"Fourteen next month," Jigglypuff replied. There were several murmurs in the room.

"Wow, she's young… Not even an adult, I say!"

"Average age of council members is usually in the thirties!"

"I don't see why she's in here…"

"Quiet!" said Girafarig. "Please continue."

Jigglypuff nodded. "Thank you. And…"

_She's only fucking thirteen?_ Captain Falcon looked extremely surprised. _And she's… twenty right now. That's damn young._

Falcon was sucked into a whirlpool of light again.

* * *

Two years later…

Captain Falcon stood in the middle of what seemed like a fiery battlefield. It was as bad as… No, it was much worse than the war back in Hyrule. Dead pokemon bodies and human carcasses laid massacred on the ground, burned to ashes by the fire.

_Holy shit… This is so damn… Terrible…_

He finally felt freedom release his body, but he was too into this memory to quit now.

_I don't know why… I just… Want to find out what happened…_

Captain Falcon looked down and saw a human wearing a black costume with the letter R on it. He looked at the man's face and immediately recognized it.

"Holy shit! This is that Joan guy! Hey!" Captain Falcon grabbed Joan's head but… grabbed nothing at all! Falcon's hand went through his head, and he looked confused for a second.

"Damn… That's right, I can't do anything. And this R looks familiar…"

Falcon's eyes scanned the rest of the battlefield, spotting more bloody carcasses and burnt down buildings. Most of the human bodies wore a black shirt with a red R on them.

"Are these those bastards? Team Rocket?" Captain Falcon heard some more fighting noise to his right and sped in that direction for what seemed like several miles.

The moment he found the source of the fighting noise, he gasped.

"It does not matter now whose lives are lost!" cried Jigglypuff, leading an army of arbitrary rebellious pokemon. She pointed at another army of pokemon, all with some metallic device on them. "Kill all that get in the way! Don't let one single human live!"

_Holy shit!_ Falcon thought. _Are all the other council members dead?_

He looked behind him and spotted the familiar Girafarig on the ground, his neck snapped in half. Falcon shook his head, trying to get the disgusting sight out of his mind.

He turned around again but he could do nothing except watch the slaughter. _I can't fucking believe that's the same Jigglypuff… The same super quiet and kind one… Mewtwo is probably fucking with my mind…_

_Ahhhhh…. But I'm not fucking with your mind…_

BOOM

There were only two pokemon left, a Steelix (steel snake pokemon) and a Jigglypuff.

And a comparison of size: Steelix is definitely bigger than the entire Great Fox, or even the Final Destination.

"Pah! A puny little Jigglypuff is the remaining council member?" said Steelix.

Jigglypuff shook her head. "Another victim controlled by humans…" Jigglypuff jumped literally a mile up to reach Steelix's face and delivered a pound attack.

"Ha! Steel body!" said Steelix, swinging his tail at Jigglypuff. "Iron Tail!"

BOOM

Jigglypuff was squashed by the enormous metal end of Steelix, crushed between it and the rocky ground. When he lifted the tail back up, Jigglypuff's body was a pink bloody mass.

"Ha! You're too puny to do a thing to me! I ought to smash you again! Iron Tail!"

BOOM

Another explosion of Steelix's tail crushing Jigglypuff.

"Iron Tail!"

BOOM

"Iron Tail!"

BOOM

"IRON TAIL!"

BOOM

_No… I can't lose here… This is for the sake of pokemon!_ Jigglypuff thought as Steelix prepared another Iron Tail attack. She swiftly rolled to the side several feet, narrowly avoiding the tail (yes, it's that big). Her body was so bloody that just by rolling, she left a thick bloody trail the width of her body behind.

Jigglypuff jumped up towards Steelix's face again, dripping blood everywhere. She latched herself on top of Steelix's face and closed her eyes.

_What's this… I never felt this before… It's like a new energy flowing through me…_

…_I think I'm falling asleep…_

Jigglypuff fell asleep right on the spot. The coating on Steelix's face blew off as he was sent flying on fire for miles, destroying all the buildings and trees in the way. Jigglypuff's sleepy body slowly fell to the ground.

Captain Falcon was amazed. "Was that… fucking Rest?"

Before he had any time to ponder about it, he was… you guessed it, he was sucked into another swirl of white light.

* * *

_The next day…_

Captain Falcon was standing on top of a cliff, directly behind Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff sat on a wheelchair, looking down on the havoc her rebellion caused. Millions upon millions of dead bodies, both human and pokemon, large and small, laid dead, scattered everywhere. The scent of mixed blood was smelled everywhere. A tear fell off her eye.

"…What have I done? I've gotten all of my friends killed… Every single one of them… I've killed every Team Rocket member in Johto…

I've killed millions of lives in this world…"

Captain Falcon couldn't help but drop a tear from his eye as well. _It must be really tough for her…_

Suddenly, he whirled around to see a large white figure behind Jigglypuff.

_So you're the tyrant that I've heard about…_

Jigglypuff turned her wheelchair around to face Mewtwo, in the past. "Who… who are you?" she asked, still sobbing.

_I am the ultimate psychic pokemon, Mewtwo._

"Well, I don't have time to do anything… I need time… to ponder."

Mewtwo nodded. _I feel your pain. The deaths of all of those that were killed… by your own hands. Our goal was to destroy the humans, yet we've killed our peers too._

Falcon glared at Mewtwo. "Damn bastard, probably doesn't feel any compassion at all…"

"Yes… It's all my fault…"

_Ah, Jigglypuff, I must depart. You need some time for rest, I believe. Get some sleep. Spore…_

White, fluffy pollen particles surrounded Jigglypuff, placing her in sleep inside her wheelchair. Mewtwo teleported out as more figures appeared.

"What… What just happened here?" said Ash, Pikachu on his shoulder.

Brock pointed at the wheelchair. "Hey, isn't that… Jigglypuff?"

The three trainers ran up to Jigglypuff. "Oh my god…" said Misty. "Look at her! We need to get her to the pokemon center!"

Ash nodded as he placed Jigglypuff inside a pokeball. "Yeah… And we'll need to know what the heck happened out here."

* * *

Captain Falcon finally reappeared back in Mewtwo's dark room, the place he was before he entered Jigglypuff's memory. Mewtwo floated in front of him, and Jigglypuff was silently sobbing behind him.

_You see? You see all the damage Jigglypuff has done?_

Falcon shook his head. "You're fucking wrong," he said.

_What am I wrong about? I am not wrong. This is the truth. Jigglypuff was a tyrant that lead her pokemon into blind war, just to have them all killed._

"No, you're fucking lying!" Falcon screamed.

"…He's not lying," Jigglypuff quietly whispered. "It's all true… Everything… I hated humans back then…"

_You see? She admits it!_

"Jiggly! You can't give in! I'm your friend!"

"…I don't know what to think anymore…"

Falcon shook Jigglypuff's body a little. "Wake up! We have to get rid of Mewtwo!"

"You probably hate me by now… All of those humans would hate me after seeing what they witnessed. You hate me… Yes! You hate me! Just get away from me!" She whacked away Falcon's hand, still standing there in place.

Falcon paused for a second. Then he finally said something smart. "Jigglypuff…" he started. "You may have been the evilest tyrant of all. You may have wanted a human genocide, and I'm a human as well. You may have killed all of your allies, and countless lives. You may have believed in Mewtwo. But guess what?

I don't give a fucking shit."

Jigglypuff sobbed some more, shaking her head and covering her eyes. "No... you don't..." Falcon glared at Mewtwo.

"…I'll take care of this pussy cat," said Falcon. "But think about it. Remember, even if you hate humans, even after all those shitty things you did…

I don't give a damn.

You know why? Because you're my friend."

Captain Falcon ran towards Mewtwo at blinding speeds, giving him a fiery punch to the side. Mewtwo blocked it with a barrier, smirking. Falcon swerved around and gave a quick kick, which was also blocked. Finally, he threw his knee into the barrier, still not affecting Mewtwo. Falcon jumped away, panting.

_Interesting lecture, but I'm afraid she's got her mind set already!_

"Yeah right… You don't know the true Jiggly, you bitch."

_I don't need to know a pathetic pokemon to kill her friends! Psychic!_

"I finally realized something…" said Falcon, feeling the sickness inside. "Whenever you use Psychic, you control the victim's body with your mind. In order to do this, you control their nerve system. A little biology helps, I guess."

He twitched again and coughed blood, his body still being levitated. "But if I damaged my own nerve systems…"

Falcon smashed his fist into his own head, damaging his own brain. His body felt numb for a quick moment, and he felt a stinging headache in his head, but what mattered was he was freed from Mewtwo's grasp!

_What?_

Falcon kneed Mewtwo again, only to have it repelled. He threw millions of fists into him, but still didn't affect him.

_You're attacks do not affect me, you fool! Psychic!_

"_Baton Pass_!"

CLANG

Falcon was suddenly unaffected by Mewtwo's psychic attack. Falcon looked at himself.

"…Damn, I feel super powerful all of a sudden."

"That's because of Amnesia and Baton Pass…" said Jigglypuff smiling.

"Jiggly! You're back!"

"Let's talk later…"

"Let's kick this bastard's ass, then," said Falcon. He released a flood of punches and kicks on Mewtwo again, only to have them all blocked.

_You cannot break through my barrier!_

Suddenly, Mewtwo couldn't see Falcon anymore. He couldn't even sense him with his mind!

"Too fast, eh? I'm so damn fast right now, you can't even fucking see me, pussy cat!"

CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

Within less than a tenth of a second, Mewtwo blocked three insanely fast kicks with his barrier. He closed his eyes, silently charging a Shadow Ball attack.

CRASH

The moment Mewtwo finished charging, his barrier… broke! He felt the burning fist of Falcon collide with his face, knocking out a few teeth. Before he knew what was happening, he was being pummeled by Falcon!

_Too… fast…_

KABAM!

Falcon finally thrusted his feet into Mewtwo's stomach, causing him to wind up in pain. Falcon smirked.

"When are you going to fucking…"

BOOM

Mewtwo released his charged Shadow Ball attack, except it was much more powerful because of Ren Kiu. Falcon could do nothing as he felt his body electrocuted in every part of his body, as well as feel the effects of psychic. The moment his attack ended, Falcon was down on the ground, unconscious.

_Pitiful fool… I'm getting tired of this._

Suddenly, Jigglypuff latched onto Mewtwo's back and used…

REST!

Mewtwo was sent flying to the side just to feel another…

REST!

He was knocked at a different angle, feeling his bones break…

REST!

He continually felt over a hundred rest attacks, chained by several hundred Jigglypuffs.

REST!

One Jigglypuff used rest, sending Mewtwo to another Jigglypuff…

REST!

That Jigglypuff used rest, blowing Mewtwo away towards the wall where another Jigglypuff stood…

REST!

Mewtwo was sent upwards into the middle of the room when he spotted over ten Jigglypuffs grabbing him.

_Holy Shi..._

REST TIMES TEN!

The power of this attack was so powerful that Mewtwo's body couldn't handle the impact of the attack anymore. His body immediately exploded into black particles, splattering everywhere in the room. The moment Jigglypuff drew the final blow, her double team clones disappeared as she fainted.

…_He's right…_Was the last thing she thought before falling into deep sleep.


	34. Chapter 34: Recovery

Hack: Plot Twist at the end of the chapter! Of course, the chapter is called Recovery, so there isn't much fighting, but there will be next chapter! Guess where they'll go next? You shall all find out! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 34: Recovery**

Ash impatiently tapped his foot on the marble floor. "When are they going to tell us whether they're fine or not?" he asked.

Misty gave him a silent stomp on his foot. "Soon!" she angrily muttered.

"I really hope they come out really soon, the Nurse Joys are so beautiful!" said Brock, blushing at the thought of the Nurse Joy.

Misty sighed. "What am I going to do with you boys…"

"It's not my fault that I'm worrying about them, they're all practically dead when we found them!" cried Ash.

* * *

_Ash, Misty, and Brock popped out of thin air and fell into a heavy heap._

"_Ugh… Where are we?" said Brock, painfully rubbing his head. "Last thing I remember is a group of Team Rocket members teaming up on us and knocking us out…"_

_Ash looked around the dark room and saw scattered bloody carcasses everywhere, one of which was Pikachu's body. "Pikachu!" he cried, running towards him. He held up the small electric rat in his arms. "Pikachu! Are you all right? What happened here?"_

_There was no response from the unconscious rat. Ash looked at the other carcasses scattered everywhere and recognized one more: Fox._

"_Fox!"_

"_Oh my god…" Misty muttered in horror._

_Brock shook his head. "This is horrible…"_

"_We have to get help. Now."_

* * *

Ash, Misty, and Brock sat on one of the scattered sofas in the Pokemon center, still waiting for any response from the nurses. Finally, Nurse Joy, a young woman in white clothing and red ponytails, emerged from the door. What seems strange is that in the anime, she seems to have an unlimited number of twin sisters.

Misty held Brock back, preventing him from giving Nurse Joy a rose while Ash approached her. "Is everyone all right?" he asked.

Nurse Joy nodded. "It was difficult to operate on these… people, but their bodies worked similarly with the human body."

Ash nervously chuckled. "Yeah… One of them is a fox and another is a bird. They come from outer space."

"So they're aliens?"

He shrugged. "In a way… But what are their conditions?"

"I'm afraid they're not in best shape, it'll take weeks for them all to recover completely. Your Pikachu suffered from an excess of poison, probably struck by a sludge bomb or toxic attack, so his body is malfunctioning. He also overcharged his body."

"…Overcharged?"

Nurse Joy nodded. "Yes, he released so much electricity that his body couldn't handle it. One more volt and his body would've exploded. But don't worry, he'll make a full recovery if you give him rest."

Ash sighed. "That's good… So what about his friends?"

"The green-clothed man and armored woman have suffered major damage in the brain, losing thousands of brain cells. They'll recover, though their brains won't function perfectly. They must've been struck by a barrage of brutal psychic attacks. The masked man has broken bones everywhere in his body, dark particles preventing them from repairing, although we successfully removed them. The fox has a very nasty cut through his chest, which will leave a big scar, but the wound will heal. The blue bird has a broken beak and skull, though it isn't anything that's impossible to repair.

What's intriguing is that Jigglypuff is in the worst condition…"

"What? What happened to her?"

"First she used intense energy to power herself up, perhaps with Swords Dance or Double Team. Then she used an attack that's a double-edged sword… Over a hundred times in succession."

Ash shrugged. "It can't be worse than the Double Edge attack…"

"Unfortunately, it is."

"What?"

"Each use of this unknown attack can utterly destroy her body. It's a miracle that she didn't die from using it. There was a ten percent chance that she'd survive."

"…"

"But we were lucky to have her again! Everyone's fine!"

"…That's great!" cried Ash. Nurse Joy gave him a warm smile.

"No problem! In fact, the fox and Pikachu are already awake right now! They want to see you!"

The three pokemon trainers immediately rushed into the room carrying all of the smashers. Fox was sitting up, reading a magazine while Pikachu sucked on a ketchup bottle.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, grabbing Pikachu and hugging him. The others smiled.

"Ow! It's great to see you too!" said Pikachu, and the trainers understood what he said from his expressions.

"Heh. Back together again, eh?" said Fox. Pikachu nodded.

"I'm happy that you're fine, Ash!" said Pikachu. Fox translated for Ash.

"Come on, Pikachu! We were just knocked out! You're the one that needed help!"

"Heh… Thanks."

Fox looked at Nurse Joy. "When do you think we can leave? We're really busy on schedule…"

Nurse Joy frowned. "Not on my watch, you're leaving! You all need at least a month of rest to fully recover before you can all go fighting again!"

"…Figures."

"Well look at you!" said Brock. "You're all cut up! You seriously need as much rest as possible."

There was another yawn as there was a sudden clang of metal. Samus sat up, wearing her helmet yet not any other part of her suit.

"You didn't miss me, did you?" she asked Fox and Pikachu.

"Ha," Fox replied. "Using your helmet to hide your face… Well Captain Falcon always wears his mask. His identity's more mysterious than you, but he doesn't…"

"Act like it," all three woken smashers said in unison.

"But when do you plan on leaving?" asked Samus.

"I wish we could leave right now and rest on the Great Fox, but this nurse won't let us."

Nurse Joy planted her hands on her waists and gave a loud 'hmph!'

"But what happened? Who were you all fighting?" asked Misty.

"Good question. Were you all knocked out?" asked Samus.

"I think we were, we were probably released the moment you defeated whoever it was," said Ash.

"All right, it was Mewtwo," Fox answered.

"Mewtwo?"

"I'll tell you everything that happened in the Silph Co."

"I'll help too. You have no idea what happened to Pikachu in our fight against Nidoking and Alakazam…"

* * *

"Ow… You were poisoned that much, Pikachu?" asked Ash. Pikachu gave a nod while still sucking on the ketchup bottle. Fox and Samus gave a strange look at him.

"I seriously have no idea what happened after Mewtwo entered Ren Kiu, though," said Samus. "The moment he transformed, I was knocked out in a few seconds before I realized that he used Psychic. Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff probably finished him off somehow, but at a great cost…" She looked at the two smashers still snoozing away.

Luigi and Falco both woke up in the middle of the story. "Yeah, I really have no damn idea what happened," Falco added. "Fox and I got our asses kicked… Right from the start."

Luigi shook his head. "Mewtwo… He's no joke. I bet we'd barely beat him if all seven of us battled him at the same time…"

"Well we weakened him," said Fox.

"Not much."

"But after that big fight," started Misty, "surely you guys have to face a weaker enemy?"

"Nope, almost everyone else in the Ring of Darkness is more powerful than Mewtwo. It's really hard to believe, though…" said Fox.

"Mewtwo was a psychic, I don't see how a water wielder, or even a sword user can be more powerful than Mewtwo!" said Falco. "It just doesn't make any damn sense!"

"All right, enough discussion," said Nurse Joy. "Everyone, into bed, now! You all need _rest_."

"Yes, ma'am…" all of the smashers awake muttered as Nurse Joy led Ash, Misty, and Brock out.

"We'll visit you tomorrow!" said Ash, giving them a peace sign with his index and middle finger.

* * *

"Mewtwo… defeated?" said Wolf, snarling. "That's impossible. He's a fucking psychic, damn it!"

"Yes, he has contributed much to the team and we are very sorry to hear about his loss," said Black Shadow. "I knew I should've finished off Jigglypuff right there before she could kill off Mewtwo…"

"This means that they are all growing more and more powerful…" said Metaknight.

"Why did you have to call me before I killed off Jigglypuff?" asked Black Shadow.

"Honestly, do you think that killing them is more important than the task at hand?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Well we don't. Remember that we have sovereignty over you all. Yes, Mewtwo contributed much, but to be completely honest, he did all he could do for us at this point. There was nothing more he could add to our efforts. By the way, what happened to the Endowment of Exigency left in him after he exploded?"

"Well… I think you might be surprised…" said Black Shadow. "According to Alex's report…"

Alex appeared in the dark room. "It says that Samus's armor absorbed all of what was left in Mewtwo," he finished for Black Shadow.

"Ah. Yes."

"Eventually she'll grow far too powerful for us to face her!" said Wolf. "We have to kill that bitch, now!"

Metaknight frowned. "No! Remember the plan!"

Alex flexed his wrists. "Yes, don't you remember Ridley's plan? The only thing that dragon was useful for?"

"Yes… It'll be very useful…" said Black Shadow. He whirled around to see Nergal behind him. "What do you want?"

"I've completed the dragon's ritual!" Nergal cried. "Now I will be able to call upon the dragons so we can take their life-force!"

"Excellent. I knew we could count on you," said Metaknight.

"Great, can we kill that bastard now?" said Wolf.

"No! Although Nergal may be weaker, he definitely has powers that none of us can wield. He will undoubtedly contribute much to our team."

"Oh yeah…"

"Right."

"Whatever, dude."

"So we're headed for Pherae next, right?" asked Black Shadow.

Metaknight smiled. "No… How about we accomplish the current task at hand?"

"What task?" asked Nergal.

"The task in Corneria…"

* * *

Ash, Brock, and Misty entered the hospital room just to see several empty beds and cabinets. Only one bed was occupied by Pikachu.

"What? What happened here?" asked Brock.

Pikachu shrugged while sucking on his ketchup bottle, then pointed at the window.

Ash sighed. "I knew it… They left without permission."

"Well, what can you expect?" asked Misty. "They have a busy schedule."

Ash nodded. "We'll just hope that they succeed…"

Pikachu looked out the window and spotted a tiny orange ship in the sky. _Wherever you guys are… I thank you for helping me save Ash. I wish you luck on your journey. Fox… Falco… Luigi… Samus… Captain Falcon… Jigglypuff…_

…_Don't die out there, whatever you do._

* * *

"We can all relax right now, I've set the ship on autopilot," said Samus.

"To the Great Fox, right?" asked Fox. "We can head over there and rest for a couple days while drifting towards Pherae."

"So Pherae's the next target, eh?" Falco asked.

"That's right," answered Luigi. "Dragons. We want to stop them. Defeating Nergal should also be a piece of cake, he's near the bottom of the list!"

Jigglypuff was still unconscious, sleeping peacefully on a bed, yet Captain Falcon was up and awake. "So, Samus babe, how's it hanging?" he asked her, placing his arm around her shoulder.

BOOM.

Fox, Luigi, and Falco laughed. "Damn, it's been so long since that happened…" said Fox.

"Yeah… It's been too long, actually," Luigi replied.

Falco forced a smile. "Yup, damn straight. Fox, listen."

Fox turned around. "Hm?"

There was a silent pause. "Never mind," said Falco.

"Huh, all right then, suite yourself!"

"Everyone, we're approaching the Great Fox," said Samus.

"Great. I can't wait to see Krystal and Slippy again," said Fox, grinning.

"…You know, Krystal's pregnant," Falco said out of the blue. Fox jumped so high that his head banged against the ship's ceiling. Luigi, Samus, and Falcon gasped as well.

"_WHAT?_" Fox screamed. "Was this what you've been hiding?"

_Shit… That wasn't what I was hiding…_ "Some of it," said Falco.

Falcon whistled. "Way to go, Fox! Get it on, baby!" He made a couple… inappropriate… dance routines that would make anyone throw up. There was another explosion.

"Fox! Did you seriously… I mean…" said Luigi.

"Um…"

"Yeah, so I've been trying to keep her from piloting an Arwing because of all of the symptoms from pregnancy," said Falco, but he was cut off there. Falcon finally cracked up.

"Symptoms… From pregnancy… PRICELESS!" he cried.

"Um… I don't think this is Captain Falcon," said Samus. "I know he's insane, but I never knew he was this insane…"

"That's because he literally bashed his brain in to get out of Mewtwo's psychic attack," Jigglypuff said, randomly emerging into the room. She was clearly limping.

Everybody jumped up into the ceiling this time, receiving a very painful headache. "You seriously do need some sleep then, Falcon," said Samus, injecting a tranquilizer into him. He immediately fell to the ground, snoring away.

Samus's ship docked itself at the front of the gigantic Great Fox. It was still daytime, so it was rather busy. Fox opened the door to allow all the smashers in while carrying Captain Falcon.

"Fox!" there was a cry as Fox entered the main lobby. He felt himself crushed by another familiar fox.

"Krystal! It's great to see you!" said Fox. "But you shouldn't be…"

"Yes, I know. Falco told you. I told him to tell you." Krystal whirled around to face Falco. "You did, didn't you?"

"Oh, right, yeah," said Falco, now taking position in carrying Falcon's sleeping body.

"Make yourselves at home. I'm sure you all need rest," said Krystal.

Falco looked at Fox. "Fox, I need to tell you something. It's urgent," he said.

Fox groaned as he was stroking Krystal's hair. "Now?" he groaned.

"Well not now, but as soon as possible. Meet me in my room." Falco quickly disappeared into thin air.

Luigi laid himself on the cough. "Damn, it feels so good to lie down!" he said. Peppy and ROB, the Starfox Robot, emerged, all carrying several food trays.

Before Fox could ask, Peppy said, "I knew because of Krystal screaming your name," he said.

"DINNER IS SERVED," said ROB as he and Peppy placed all of the trays on the large circular table. Luigi's stomach gave a loud rumbling noise.

"Damn, it's been so long since I've had good food…" he said as he started to chomp on his dinner like a beast. Samus, Fox, and Jigglypuff followed suit.

"Mmm! Who cooked this?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I did," said Peppy. "With some help from ROB, of course!"

"Can you give me some of your recipes?" she asked.

Peppy chuckled. "Why of course!"

After a few minutes into dinner, Slippy bounced into the room. "Everyone!" he cried. "It's great to see you!"

Fox smiled as he gave Slippy a friendly hug. "Great to see you too," he said. Falcon was awake and chomping on his food faster than all of the other smashers combined. He gave a loud burp every now and then. Everyone except Fox was busy watching the television set, watching Seinfeld.

"Well I'm glad Slippy didn't cook today," teased Fox.

"Are you making fun of me?" he asked.

"Naw, not at all!" Fox finally finished his dinner after Captain Falcon and walked through the hall, entering Falco's room.

All of the smashers cracked up at a joke that Luigi decided to share.

"Wow, it's been so long since I've had this much fun!" said Captain Falcon. "Damn! We should get a move on in a couple hours, Samus babe!"

BOOM

"I swear, he's invincible to my missiles now because he somehow recovers so damn fast…" said Samus as Falcon staggered.

"It's called a plot hole," corrected Jigglypuff.

"…oh."

* * *

"Fox, I have something to confess to you," said Falco.

"What is it? I know you've been hiding something for the entire time, but I know it'd only create commotion. We were already busy with Kanto anyways, so I'd let it go until we'd arrive here."

"Yeah. First off, Krystal being pregnant is _not_ what I was hiding from you."

"Figures."

Falco approached Fox, who was sitting on Falco's bed. "Fox," he said. "I don't mean to make you angry, and I did it because I think it is right.

This is the reason why I was sent to look for you in Kanto in the first place."

"Just let it out, dude!" yelled Fox.

"Corneria has been under attack for over two weeks by the Star Wolf Team."

Fox gasped. "Corneria… under attack? Star Wolf?"

"Wolf himself isn't there, but the usual gang is definitely there…"

"…Falco…"

"Pigma, that greedy old bastard is still there, and so is Leon. Panther, the Captain Falcon wannabe, is in the attack too. Andrew Oikonney is dead, so no worries…"

"…YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

Fox gave a powerful punch to Falco's head, wounding his skull even more. Falco screamed as he held his head in pain.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he yelled.

Fox stood over Falco, who was on the ground. "When you signed up for the Star Fox team, you pledged that you'd save Corneria. But you thought defeating Mewtwo was more important."

"I told you, I did what I thought was right."

"No, what you did was fucking wrong. Corneria has the highest priority, even more priority than the entire universe. What you did is in violation of the Starfox Team."

"…No… Please…"

"I even told you if it was anything related to Corneria then you'd tell me, but you still hid it from me! How could you?"

"…Fox… We've been friends forever… I did what I thought was right…"

"But what you thought was fucking wrong! You violated the policy of the Starfox Team!"

"Violation? No… Please… Don't…"

Fox gave a glare that pierced through Falco's soul. Words cannot express the anger that he gave. "Falcon Lombardi, I hereby give you a lifetime dismissal from the Starfox Team."


	35. Chapter 35: Do A Barrel Roll!

Hack: Not really that much happening, to be frank. Only a bunch of side stories that'll lead to the main plot. And I admit, this chapter ain't the long week wait, really. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 35: Do a Barrel Roll!**

"No… You can't be serious…" gasped Falco. "I'm… dismissed?"

Fox nodded. "Those are your last orders from your team leader, me."

"No! I refuse!"

"You refuse to follow a directed order?"

"What happened with our friendship?" cried Falco. "Our childhood together? The team that we formed after your father? I was the man beside you all the time!"

"Yet you ditched the team years after the defeat of Andross. The next time you rejoined was while I was saving Dinosaur Planet."

"But… our friendship… Does it mean nothing to you?"

"Orders above relationships, my friend. You don't see me putting Krystal over my missions."

That was certainly true, Falco finally realized. "But… You sacrificed yourself to save me from Scizor!"

Fox shook his head. "You don't understand… Remember what you said back at Kanto."

"_You're my leader. I'll follow you and do whatever you order me to," said Falco._

"…That's different," said Falco.

"No, it fucking isn't," replied Fox. "There is no more time for chit chat. By the time we arrive at Corneria, I want you to leave."

"But…"

"That's an order! I want you to leave the Great Fox before the day we arrive at Corneria! Or you can find a suitable alternative that we can work out…"

"…I'll find one," said Falco, giving a cold glare at Fox. "I have the support of the rest of the team, you fucking asshole."

* * *

The smashers in the lobby laughed again as they watched their millionth episode of Seinfeld. Luigi and Jigglypuff also watched Samus stab Falcon with a tranquilizer, causing him to fall asleep for the tenth time in the same day. 

"Seriously, there's definitely something wrong with him…" said Samus. "I mean, he's not even flirting with me! He's just… insane. Period."

"I concur. We need to get a medical doctor," said Luigi.

"You need a psychologist?" asked Slippy, throwing a wrench up and down.

Krystal smiled. "You've got one right there," she pointed at Slippy.

"You're a mental doctor?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Yep. I majored in psychology back at the Corneria academy, but I figured that it wouldn't be of much use since I was going to join the Starfox Team. I also majored in Engineering."

There were several 'Ohhhs' and 'Ahhhhs.'

Fox appeared in the lobby, smiling. "Everyone, guess what? We're headed for Corneria next!"

"Really?" said Luigi, poking the sleeping Captain Falcon. "Why? I thought it was Pherae next!"

"There's a conflict going on there right now related with the Starwolf Team," explained Fox. "I'm sure we'll be able to track down Wolf O'Donnell, my rival, and take him down."

Peppy pressed a couple more keys in the pilot seat. "It'll take us two weeks to get there, Fox," he said. "That's enough reasonable time to get some good rest from your previous fights."

Fox smiled. "Of course."

Krystal looked around. "What did you talk about with Falco? I don't see him anywhere now…"

"Oh, he's in his room right now. He must be really tired, so he's taking a nap." That was partially true. "But what's important is dealing with Wolf. We don't want to enter Corneria out of nowhere, giving a warning to him that we're there. We want to hit him when he's not expecting it."

Slippy raised his hand. "I'll deal with that," he said.

Samus yawned. "Can't we discuss our plans the day before we enter Corneria? We'll all forget it in two weeks anyways…"

"All right."

Luigi stood up. "I just realized," he said. "Where we ended our discussion back at the Pokemon Center."

"Hm? What about it?" Samus and Fox asked in unison.

"It took the seven of us to barely defeat Mewtwo, what makes you think we can take Wolf on with only six of us when he's much more powerful?"

Fox smiled. "That's why we train for the next two weeks."

* * *

The Halberd hovered above the grand capital of Corneria, repelling all of the battle ships attacking it. Infantry men ran across the ground, shooting at the Halberd like berserkers with machine guns. 

Wolf smiled. "This is too easy… I can wipe out all of Corneria right now."

"But obviously you don't want to do that, do you?" asked Metaknight.

"Fuck no. This is just a damn lure for that Foxy team."

"Yes, you've said that for the millionth time. Where are the others?"

"You mean Alex?"

Suddenly, every single soldier in sight was frozen under a large sheet of ice. "That answers our question."

* * *

Mario was on his raft from his one month vacation, finally sailing back home to Mushroom Kingdom from Delfino Isle. He enjoyed his well-deserved vacation, visiting several vacation spots and visiting some of his old friends around the world. 

_What a way to end it… I bet that when I get back, something bad's going to happen on that same day. Cruel fate loves to play tricks on me…_

_I shouldn't complain. At least I got my vacation… And what a vacation! It's been really nice to visit Rogueport to see my old friends again, though I didn't see Vivian anywhere… And when I went to Bean Bean Kingdom, it was a pleasure to see Prince Peasley and the queen again. They really owe me a lot, but I don't want anything anymore. Then visiting DK Isle… Great to see the old Kongs again._

Mario took another bite from his sandwich filled with pasta and delightfully enjoyed the flavor of it, smiling. Yoshi, who was sleeping next to him, also enjoyed his vacation with Mario. Mario patted his stead on the head.

"We're finally going back home, Yoshi," said Mario.

"Mm…" Yoshi murmured, making small sniffing noises. Mario ignored them.

"Makes me wonder where you'll be going… Now that my brother's gone, you're the only one left that I can hang out with at Mushroom Kingdom."

Another snorting and sniffing noise came from Yoshi.

"The princess is too busy handling the kingdom, and calling up Wario and Waluigi is hardly a choice… I hate them so damn much. Maybe I'll spar with Bowser again, I'm sure he got some new tricks up his sleeve…"

SLURP!

Yoshi immediately woke up and lashed out his long tongue at Mario's sandwich, snatching it out from his hands and eating it in one gulp. Yoshi closed his eyes and smiled while Mario looked at his hand, now empty.

"Oh my god, that was so good… You need to make more..." said Yoshi, drooling.

"Yoshi! You stole my lunch!" cried Mario as he started to playfully strangle Yoshi on the neck.

"GACK! Owie! I was hungry!"

"I was hungry too! All right, whatever… Looks like we're almost there," said Mario.

"Mm. And I'll see everyone for a while again. Thanks for bringing me along."

Mario smiled. "No problem."

Yoshi pointed up at the skies. "Looks like your suspicions were confirmed…" he said, eyeing the dark clouds surrounding Peach's castle.

"What the fuck… The third time this happened. Every fucking time I come back from a vacation, some asshole brews up some damn trouble."

"Yeah, even I'm starting to get pretty annoyed."

Mario hopped on Yoshi's back as the raft stopped at the short of Toad Town. "Let's go!" said Mario as Yoshi, now carrying Mario, ran towards Peach's castle.

* * *

"How many do we have waiting?" asked Black Shadow. 

Nergal smirked. "Around five, I must say," he said. "I believe the Ring of Darkness is becoming more of an organization rather than a team."

"I concur. We've got several other team members signed up as co-captains, a step lower than us but with only a little bit of the Endowment of Exigency. Each one of us can handle one of the co-captains and train them. Of course, besides the Master and you. That leaves me, Metaknight, Wolf, and Alex."

"What about Gigyas?"

"Oh, he's definitely at our level. He's proven to be much more worthy than you. He'll have a co-captain as well."

"…I'll pretend I did not hear that remark."

"Hmph, so be it. All right, so who do we have?"

"Hm, according to my reports, our guaranteed co captains are Grodus and Andross…"

"Who else are in wait? They are not completely willing to join?"

"Oh, we do have a couple more, but according to their replies, I think they want a bit of time to think about it."

"Who are they?"

"We only have three others. Dark Samus, Titan Dweevil, and King Dedede."

Black Shadow smiled. "Excellent. That doubles the size of our organization."

* * *

One week has passed ever since the five smashers slept in on the Great Fox. All of them have been training as hard as possible except for Captain Falcon, who finally recovered from his insanity. 

"Dude, so I was seriously going crazy?" he asked Slippy.

"Yup."

"Damn, thanks dude! I gotta get you something in return!"

Slippy shook his head. "Naw, it's no problem. I think your body's fully recovered too!"

Falco glared at Fox, who was sparring with Samus in the virtual smash battle room.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Fox drill kicked into Samus while next to the wall, then he used a powerful flip kick to send her flying upwards. He jumped into the sky and used his midair flip kick to finish her off. Samus quickly retaliated by dropping a bomb, stopping him in his tracks. She fell directly in front of him and shot her fully charged arm cannon shot.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Fox quickly turned on his reflector to deflect it right back at her, sending her flying into oblivion.

Fox: 2 stocks left

Samus: 1 stock left

Was shown on the projector screen that Falco was watching.

"When are they going to be fucking finished?" he asked as Peppy walked into the room, bringing a cup of water.

"Here ya go, Falco!" said Peppy. Falco impolitely snatched it from his hands.

"Thanks," he murmured. Peppy looked confused.

"There something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, just not in the mood."

"All right…"

Peppy walked away as Falco continued to watch Fox and Samus fight.

Both had only one stock left, and Samus had just sent Fox flying off the Final destination. She grabbed the edge as Fox attempted to recover. She jumped off of the edge to kick Fox away from the stage. Immediately, Fox used his reflector at the precise millisecond, sending her downwards and losing her final stock.

"GAME!"

After a minute, both Fox and Samus walked out of the virtual battlefield in the Great Fox, sweating.

"Nice fight, Samus, really," said Fox.

"You were holding back though."

"Look who's talking… I can tell if somebody's giving it his or her all or not."

Fox saw Falco, but decided to ignore him as he and Samus walked in different directions. Falco stood up and followed Fox for minutes, walking right behind him until Fox reached the door to his room.

"I know you're following me," said Fox.

"I know that you know. We need to talk."

"What is there to talk about?"

"I came up with an alternative that we can work out."

"About kicking you off?"

Falco rolled his eyes. "Naw really, what else is there?"

"Then spit it out."

Falco pointed at Fox. "I want to have a dogfight with you, in our Arwings."

"A dogfight? I never went on an Arwing for a long time ever since it crashed on DK Isle…"

"The Starfox Team is based on our Arwing combat. If I defeat you, naturally I would deserve to be leader, but since you'd never let me become the leader, I suppose I can stay in the team if I defeat you."

"And if I defeat you?"

"I'll leave quietly as soon as possible. You will never hear of me as the Ace Pilot of the Starfox Team ever again."

Fox smiled. "I can stick with that agreement. It's a deal."

* * *

"I can't believe it…" said Slippy. "He's actually kicking Falco off…" 

Luigi, Samus, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, Slippy, Krystal, and Peppy were staring through the window of the Great Fox, watching two Starfox members in their Arwings, ready to fight each other.

"Krystal! Can't you convince him to let Falco rejoin before it's too late?" asked Samus.

Krystal shook her head. "No. This is Fox's decision and there is nothing I can do about it."

"Damn…"

Peppy closed his eyes. "I never thought this would happen… I knew they would eventually face each other, but not this way… They've been best friends for years."

"That damn Fox…" Falcon angrily grumbled under his breath. "Such an asshole…"

"I don't mean to be rude…" said Luigi, "but I've never seen a dogfight between Arwings and such, so to be completely honest, I'm really interested in seeing this fight."

Peppy sighed. "Well we're all interested in some ways. I'm interested to see who emerges as the victor, and how they'll react."

Inside his small cockpit, Fox looked up at the intercom, which revealed Falco's face. "You sure you want to go on with this?" he asked. "I'm not going to hold back anything."

"Great," said Falco. "I never wanted you to hold back at all. It's been what? At least six years since last we fought each other?"

"Yup. You beat me in that."

"Ha… But you were the better leader, I admit."

For a moment there, it seemed like the two were best friends again. "Let's get it on then!" said Fox.

Suddenly, green lasers went flying everywhere. Both Arwings shot millions upon millions of lasers at each other, attempting to shoot each other down.

Fox flew to his right, spinning his Arwing with a sharp turn. Falco boosted forward to catch up, going on the aggressive offensive.

"DO A BARREL ROLL!" cried Peppy. Both Fox and Falco slapped themselves on the head.

"Shut up!" both of them yelled through the mike back at the Great Fox. Fox immediately utilized a loop, causing Falco to fly underneath him. Fox immediately followed his maneuver up with a well-aimed sensor bomb. Falco swiftly made a sharp turn to avoid the bright red explosion, though it slightly singed the tip of the right wing. At this moment, he charged a green laser shot and released it at Fox.

Anticipating this attack, Fox used a barrel roll, deflecting it back at Falco. Falco, also anticipating this maneuver, used his own barrel roll while approaching Fox's Arwing. Fox was struck by the full force of the laser attack, blowing off a part of his Arwing's hull.

Immediately, Falco released his own sensor bomb. Fox wasn't stupid enough to fall for that, though. He used a vertical U-Turn upwards, avoiding the bomb and facing Falco. He released his own charged laser shot at Falco, striking him with full force.

The fight continued on in this manner, each space animal striking the other, and dodging each other's attacks.

"Damn… This is so damn intense…" said Luigi. "It's like they're both equal…"

"They are equal right now, from the looks of it," said Slippy. "But Falco was definitely the better pilot years ago. I'm not so sure about now, though…"

After two hours into the fierce dogfight, both Arwings were no longer in much condition to fight, yet both Starfox Members were not ready to give up.

"Damn, it looks like you've gotten a lot better, Foxy!" said Falco.

"Gotta say the same to you, little Birdy!" Fox replied.

Falco immediately stood on the wing of his Arwing, leaving the cockpit empty. "What the fuck are you doing?" Fox asked.

Falco smirked. "What I do to win!" He pulled out a rocket launcher and released it at Fox's Arwing, blowing off one entire wing. Fox's Arwing staggered, but it continued to fly (although in a wavy pattern)

"You fucking…" murmured Fox as he struggled to keep his Arwing flying in a straight line.

Falco smirked again as he flew behind Fox after jumping back into the cockpit, aiming a charged laser shot at Fox.

_All right then… If you're going to be like that…_

CABAM!

Falco's Arwing gave a heavy lurch as he staggered, struggling to see what just happened. Fire began to surround him as he saw Fox standing on Fox's Arwing's wing, holding up…

_…The sniper rifle…_

"Fuck!" Falco yelled as his Arwing began to malfunction. He quickly pressed several buttons on the control panel, but to his dismay, nothing happened. He urgently grabbed a button and pressed it, ejecting him back to the Great Fox safely.

* * *

"Oh my god… That was cheap…" said Luigi. 

Samus shrugged. "Falco did it first, so Fox followed suite."

"Fox… no…" Falco gasped as he kneeled before Fox. Falcon was about to run up to Falco, but Samus stopped him.

"This is personal stuff," she said. "You can't interfere…"

"What? But babe…"

Samus shook her head, ignoring the word, 'babe.' "No. We can't get involved with this right now."

"You snooze, you lose. You have to keep your end of the challenge," said Fox.

Both Slippy and Krystal stood by Falco. "How could you!" cried Slippy. "You've been friends for years! And you've been hiding this from us for the entire week!"

Krystal shook her head. "Fox… Can't you understand?"

"He broke the rules."

"Who cares about the rules?"

"It doesn't matter about that, you can't just kick Falco off."

"Yes I can, I am the leader of this team, and I have that right. You can't damn argue against that," said Fox. Everyone was silent for a moment, then Falco looked up to Fox as he stood up.

"…Fine. I'm leaving," said Falco. "I'll keep my end of the bargain. By tomorrow, you'll find me off of the ship. Mind if I take my Arwing?"

"Don't mind at all."

"Good. Trust me, my room'll be completely empty by the time you wake up."

Falco walked through the hall and shut himself in the room, locking himself in. Both Slippy and Krystal glared at Fox, then walked back into their own rooms as well.

Fox reentered the lobby to face the smashers and Peppy. "So who's up for another match?" he asked enthusiastically.

"You can't be fucking serious…" said Falcon.

"How can you act so calm after kicking Falco off?" cried Jigglypuff.

"It's the rules. That's all I have to say."

"Everyone…" said Samus. "This isn't the time to worry about Falco. We have to train, who knows who we'll be up against in Corneria."

"But Fox…" muttered Falcon.

"Geez, I never expected you to get this emotional… What's up with you? Do you need another appointment with Slippy?" asked Samus.

Falcon shook his head. Truthfully, he did become a lot more emotional ever since he saw Jigglypuff's horrid past.

_"But Jigglypuff… You're secret's safe with me," said Falcon._

_Jigglypuff smiled. "Thank you… I knew I could count on my friends."_

"…But you're right that this is all Fox and Falco's business," said Falcon. "Even though I'd like to help them fix their relationship, this isn't really that damn time. It may seem heartless, but… Hey, where's Luigi and Jiggly?"

Samus pointed at the Smash virtual room. "In there, training," she said.

"Oh, right."

* * *

Fox laid himself on his bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. _I can't believe I did it… Damn… It's the right thing to do, though…_

A tear dropped off of Fox's right eye.

_Corneria… I'm coming to save you._


	36. Chapter 36: Another Brother Gone

Hack: A short chapter, I know… And definitely not worth the two week wait. Apologies for that. But the next chapter will be the start of the Cornerian Arc! Look forward to it! Enjoy!

Whoever played Starfox Command will be very familiar with these events…

* * *

**Chapter 36: Another Brother Gone  
**

General Pepper coughed out loud in the middle of ruins, surrounded by rubble and dead soldiers.

_Damn… It looks like this is the end… I can't believe Team Starwolf became so much more powerful…_

He closed his eyes, placing his hand over his aching stomach, which was almost blown open. With his other hand, he reached for the phone and, using all of his leftover strength, grabbed it tightly. He pressed a button then released it.

_The distress signal… I hope Falco brought Fox back… I do not regret anything in my life…Keep the team strong, Fox…_

Pepper's hand fell to the ground lifelessly, and Pepper stopped breathing.

Little did General Pepper know, the Starfox Team already took its first step towards tearing itself apart.

* * *

Three more days until arrival in Corneria… 

Samus walked into Falco's room, just to see Luigi who was holding a sewing needle in his right hand and some thread in his left.

"Still working on that project?" asked Samus.

Luigi grinned. "Of course! I won't finish it by the time we get to Corneria, it'll take at least one more week."

"Care to tell me what it's going to be?"

"Nah. It's a secret weapon, I'm going to save it for when I need it."

"Ah… I see." Samus raised an eyebrow, although Luigi couldn't see it through her helmet. Suddenly, there were loud roaring noises outside of the room.

"What the fuck?" Samus rushed out of the room, but Luigi simply shrugged. _Probably them again…_

Samus came into the lobby to see Fox and Slippy glaring at each other, clearly angry at each other.

"Oh man… They're at it again…" Samus whispered to Jigglypuff, who simply responded with a nod. "Is it about Falco again?"

"The usual…" said Jigglypuff.

"It's not my fault Falco left!" argued Fox. "Just let it go! It's my damn responsibility to make sure that our team follows all orders and rules at all times!"

"But did that so-called rule even matter?" asked Slippy. "Falco did it for the sake of the universe!"

"So what? It's for the sake of the team!"

"So you're saying that you care more about your home-planet more than the entire universe?"

"In a way, yes, but even if I didn't I would've kicked that bird out!"

"Where's Captain Falcon? He's a little late for the breakup…" said Jigglypuff. "Oh, never mind!"

Suddenly, Captain Falcon appeared between the two space animals. "Hold it! Are you starting another fucking argument?"

Fox whacked Falcon aside with his staff. "Well if you don't like my ideas…" he said. "Then you can fucking leave this…"

BOOM!

Captain Falcon gave a powerful kick in the side of Fox's jaw. Fox fell over, giving a piercing glare like a hawk.

"Watch what you're saying, you idiot!" yelled Falcon.

"No… I've been thinking about it all this time…" said Slippy. "And the fact that Fox wants me to leave is more support for quitting."

"Wait, I didn't mean…"

"Did you mean it when you told Falco to leave? From what I witnessed, yes! To be completely honest, I don't really want to be involved with the team anymore. I need to get back to my life with Amanda back in Corneria," explained Slippy. "I've been reconsidering it all the time, but seeing as you don't need me anymore…"

"No way…" Fox gasped.

"Yes way. I think I've made my decision, Fox." Slippy slammed a packet of papers onto the table, each one of them signed. "Fox, I resign from this team."

"No, I forbid you to resign…"

Slippy smiled. "Nothing against you, but didn't you read the rules? Any member of our team can resign at any time by filling out these resignation forms."

Fox was stunned. Falcon, Samus, and Jigglypuff were staring at them, waiting for someone to say something.

"…Fine. You can leave," said Fox. "You can leave tomorrow on your Arwing."

Slippy walked through the hall behind him as Peppy watched everyone inside the lobby, shaking his head.

* * *

"So Luigi, Slippy damn quitted from the Starfox Team!" Captain Falcon explained to Luigi, who was still sewing. 

"Fox, that idiot… Before long, I'm going to guess that Krystal and Peppy are going to leave too."

"Ya know…" started Falcon. "I wouldn't be damn surprised if that happened. He's been acting like a fucking asshole recently."

"I second that."

"When the fuck are you going to stop stitching that piece of shit anyways, Luigi?"

"Don't know."

"I never saw you sleep, eat, or any of that crap!"

"Nah, don't worry about it. I do eat, you can ask Peppy about that."

"All right, but working on some piece of shit isn't going to help us that much right now…"

"In the future, it damn will."

"Maybe… I wonder how my brother's doing back at Mushroom Kingdom… Probably saving it again from some evil guy. I wouldn't be surprised, that guy rarely gets a break from adventuring…"

* * *

"This is insane…" Mario grumbled, riding on Yoshi. Scattered around him were several dead Toads sprawled on the ground. "Any idea what's happening?" 

Yoshi looked up. "Hm… Either Bowser decided to actually start killing innocent civilians, or someone else with a grudge has attacked us like Cackletta did."

"You mean maybe Smithy or Grodus?"

"How about the Shadow Queen?"

Mario shivered. "Don't ever mention her again. That was an incredibly scary fight back there… Yoshi! Jump!"

But Mario didn't have to warn Yoshi. At the same time, Yoshi immediately jumped to the side with Mario on his saddle, barely avoiding a lightning bolt threatening to zap them.

"Now I really know who it is…" said Mario, anger surging through him. "Goombella really wasn't joking when she said that he was still alive with Crump…"

"…Yeah. We're screwed."

* * *

One day before the crew arrives in Corneria… 

"No way… No fucking way…" Fox gasped.

Fox and Peppy were alone in the lobby in the middle of the night, everyone else asleep.

Peppy nodded, shedding another tear from his eyes. "It's true… Reports showed that General Pepper's body was found in a pile of rubble, evidently dead… I e-mailed them to Slippy and Falco to ensure that they know of the news, but I don't know when they're going to check…"

"…Peppy, are the Arwings completely fueled?"

"Not yet…"

"I want you to refuel them as soon as possible by tomorrow. I'm going to set out on my own."

"Fox… Is it revenge?"

"How did you know!" Fox gasped, his eyes narrowing.

"I know you too well, Fox… You'd set out to destroy whatever had destroyed your loved ones. But remember that revenge won't…"

Fox rolled his eyes. "Just… shut up. I've already lost more than enough."

Peppy sighed. "I guess so… You should get some rest. We're going to leave tomorrow."

"All right then… Forget about the refueling stuff. Do that tomorrow. You better get some sleep too, Peppy…"

* * *

"Look! I can see Corneria from here!" cried Jigglypuff, pointing at the humongous glass window. 

"Yep!" said Fox. "It'll take a half day for us to get there on the Great Fox, but on the Arwing it'll take less than half an hour."

"Why don't we use the Arwing from the beginning then?" asked Jigglypuff, looking up at Fox like a little child.

"Gas and Fuel. Arwings can only carry enough fuel to last them at most four days."

"Oh…"

Luigi emerged from the room, carrying what seemed like an incomplete orange glove. "So when are we going to launch the Arwings?"

Peppy smiled. "We're almost complete with our preparations, so in five minutes. You're all ready, then?"

"Yes," said all five smashers.

"Luigi! Put that damn thing away!" said Captain Falcon.

"All right! All right! Sheesh, I was about to put it away anyways…" Luigi grumbled, going back into the hall to drop off his stitching.

When Luigi came back a minute after, all five smashers grouped together before Peppy. "We're all going to go to the Arwing Cargo area, it'll take a little walk to get there. Just follow me. It'll be quick."

Five minutes later, Fox was sitting in his trusty Arwing, smirking confidently. Krystal peered through the glass cockpit, knocking on it.

"Fox…" she said.

"No, Krystal. It's too dangerous, I don't want you to come with us…" said Fox. "I'm sorry…"

"I understand…" she replied. She looked at Samus's ship, which was upgraded with several additional guns and polished. It shone so much that its shining rivaled the sun's! The four other smashers sat comfortably in the larger ship, Samus in the pilot seat.

"Report back to me when you arrive in Corneria!" Peppy called. "Find that StarWolf team and beat them up!"

Fox gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry, I will!" he said. Immediately, Fox's Arwing and Samus's orange ship shot out into space, towards Corneria.

* * *

"Wow… This is just horrible…" a bird gasped, looking around the countless piles of rubble. He carefully tiptoed over each rock, crunching noises emerging from every step he took. 

Suddenly, a green laser blast came flying out of nowhere. Instinct told the bird to hop away, and hop away he did. The laser shot off a piece of rubble on the ground, revealing the familiar face of…

"…General Pepper?" the bird gasped. "Is it you?"

He kneeled down and examined the dog's face, and immediately confirmed his death. However, before he had time to mourn for the general, another low voice was heard.

"Falco… What are you doing without your crew?" asked Leon, the green lizard. It was no secret between the Starfox team and the Starwolf team that Leon and Falco were great rivals.

"…I ditched them."

"Oh really? Then you'll be easy prey for us…" said Panther, holding a rose.

"No. They don't understand me. I hate them."

"Hate who?" asked Pigma, the greedy pink pig.

"My team… Fox…"

Leon held a sword to Falco's neck. "But we have no choice. You must be exterminated under the orders of Wolf O'Donnell."

"No! Let me finish!" gasped Falco.

"Hm?"

"Let me join you! They don't understand what it's like to do what you believe in! Please!"

Leon's sword cut through a couple of Falco's feathers, though he didn't feel it. "Should we?"

"Let us ask Wolf first."

"All right. Falco, welcome to the Starwolf team."


	37. Chapter 37: Katt and Bill

Hack: Unfortunately, I believe that this story's going to lean away from the humor side and lean towards the dark mood. In other words, this fic will be becoming more dark, depressing, dramatic, and stuff like that. It doesn't mean that the humor will be completely dead, just that there will be less… Noticeably less. Well anyways, enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 37: Katt and Bill**

"So this is Corneria?" asked Samus through the intercom.

"Yeah… It's a lot worse than I expected…" Fox replied with a frown.

It was horrible. The entire city was covered by layers upon layers of rubble. Each and every building was knocked down by its side, crushing anyone unfortunate enough to stay below it. Blood covered almost every rock scattered on the city, giving a nasty odor. Fox's Arwing and Samus's ship flew over the city, finding a spot to land their ships.

Captain Falcon appeared by Samus's side, putting his left arm around her shoulder. "Babe, when are we going to land?"

BOOM

Luigi and Jigglypuff appeared a second later, stepping on top of Falcon's charred body.

Samus shook her head. "I don't think we can land anywhere, Fox… Looks like we'll have to jump."

"Are you insane? At that height?" Luigi screamed, looking down the window.

"You have a point there. Luigi, Falcon, and Jigglypuff will have no problem jumping off, but the two of us will have to get some extra time to maintain our ships. We have to use the other three to buy us some time so we can land safely."

_Use…_

Samus angrily scowled when she heard that word. Luigi looked at her with concern on his face. "Are you okay?"

"No, it's all right," replied Samus. "But you three will have to jump off the ship while we find a place to land."

Jigglypuff looked down through the window. "I can use teleport to get down there safely but… It'll drain much of my energy."

Samus sighed. "Well I'll have to get close to the ground so you three can jump off safely."

Samus's ship hovered over the pile of rubble as the circular door on top opened. Luigi elegantly flipped out of the ship, performing several stylish flips and tricks in the air before landing on his feet accurately. "Kick-Ass Jump tricks! Oh yeah!" Luigi cried, looking up. A loud applause was heard from an unknown invisible audience. The invisible audience even screamed as if they were his fans.

Jigglypuff floated out from the ship, spun several times in the air, and safely landed on her feet as well, right next to Luigi. "Landed Safely!" she cried. Scattered claps and whistles were heard as she straightened herself up.

"I'm next!" Falcon cried as he jumped out and flipped once in the air. However, he was too late and landed face first into the rubble. Painfully. Several boos and jeers were heard as Luigi and Jigglypuff looked down at him.

"Way to impress the audience, Falcon…" said Luigi.

"Shut up! I'm not a jumping freak like you, or a floaty pokemon like Jiggly!"

"Um… We have company…" Jigglypuff whispered. Samus's ship was nowhere to be seen as she left to look for a spot to land. Instead, several dog soldiers carrying blasters and machine guns surrounded the three smashers.

"State your names and purpose in this area!" one of the ordered, obviously the commander of the entire fleet. "Or else you are all assumed to be enemies!"

Luigi sighed. "Attacked the moment we land…"

"Silence!"

"A little touchy aren't they?" murmured Falcon. He felt the cold steel tip of a rifle touching his chin.

Jigglypuff spoke up. "We're all friends of Fox McCloud. Is that enough information for you?"

The dog commander smiled. "Yes, it certainly is. Fire at will!"

By reflexes, all three smashers jumped several feet into the air to avoid all gunfire. Unfortunately for the soldiers, because they surrounded the smashers in a circle, they ended up shooting each other.

"You idiots!" the commander screamed. "They're up in the air!"

Too late. The hesitation of all of the soldiers gave Luigi enough time to charge up a green missile, causing him to fall to the ground. The moment he was on level with all of the soldiers, he released his attack.

"MISSFIRE! WHOO!" Luigi screamed as he felt an enormous explosion release at the end of his bottom. He plowed through a third of the crew, instantly knocking them all out and sending them flying.

Jigglypuff cried, "_Agility!_" as her body was boosted with the necessary speed. She instantly disappeared, confusing all of the soldiers. In a second, she appeared outside of the mob of soldiers. After another second, half of them fell to the ground, punched to death by the fast puffball.

The commander, who was miraculously still alive, aimed his rocket launcher at Captain Falcon and fired. "Take that!" he cried.

The moment the missile was a hair's length from Falcon, Captain Falcon spun once in the air and literally _kicked_ the missile, sending it whirling in the opposite direction…

Back at the commander!

KA-BOOM!

The remaining soldiers were blown everywhere, as if a bottle of soda was crushed by a fist and the liquid splashed everywhere. Captain Falcon finally landed on the ground between Luigi and Jigglypuff, who were satisfied with the three-second fight.

"…That was a fucking pushover," Falcon commented.

"Agreed," Luigi and Jigglypuff replied simultaneously.

* * *

"I heard loud explosion noises from back there," said Fox. "Are you sure you didn't drop them off in the middle of an army or something?" 

Samus shrugged as she still searched. "Well it doesn't matter, they can easily handle over a million soldiers single-handedly."

"I take that as a no."

* * *

Captain Falcon grabbed a conscious soldier by his neck and suspended him into the air. "You! Tell me who your master is!" 

"I really am not for threatening people physically…" murmured Luigi.

The soldier coughed as Falcon's grip on his neck tightened. "I… Know nothing! Ask my commander!"

Falcon rolled his eyes, then held the soldier's gun to the side of the soldier's head. "The info or your head. Either one."

"All right! All right!" the soldier panicked as Falcon smiled. "Our commander said that he was under orders of master Leon, the second-in-command of the Starwolf Team!"

Falcon held the gun up again. "Anything else?" he asked innocently, winking.

"That's it! I swear!"

Falcon gave a swift punch into the soldier's face, knocking him out. "Well we got some useful crap out of this bastard," he said.

"Not really, you should've interrogated him more, though I think he was speaking the truth that he didn't know anything else," said Luigi. "I mean, we already know that the Starwolf Team is behind this battle."

"Shut up, stupid plumber," said Falcon. Suddenly, he lost his balance and fell on his back, narrowly missing the sharp rocks pointed upwards.

"What the fuck?" he cried.

Luigi and Jigglypuff saw a portion of the rubble lifted up by a square portion of the steel ground, revealing a pink cat beneath.

"Hey! Are you three here to save us?" she asked in a quiet yet stern voice.

Falcon rolled his eyes, apparently angry by her tripping him by accident. "No, we're here to shoot you."

"Don't mind that guy," said Luigi. "We're all comrades of Fox. Are you local civilians of Corneria?"

"…Well you could certainly say that," the girl said. "Come on down here and introduce yourselves to us. We're all sheltering back in here away from that Starwolf Team."

She turned around and walked down the stairs below the trapdoor. "Oh, and close the trapdoor after you come in." Then she disappeared down the stairs.

Jigglypuff looked up to Luigi. "Should we trust her?"

Luigi shrugged. "I don't see why not. We don't have any other leads on fighting Wolf, so we might as well."

Luigi lead Jigglypuff and Falcon down the trapdoor, Falcon closing it behind him. After a minute of tedious walking, they arrived in what seemed to be an underground shelter.

"By the way, the way you took out those soldiers in a few seconds… I'm quite impressed," the girl said. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Katt Monroe."

"Katt the cat… Ha ha, what a hilarious name," Falcon laughed out loud. His face was met by several bitch slaps by the cat girl.

"That's something new…" said Luigi. "He gets beat up not for flirting, but for teasing! This is priceless!"

"Shh!" said Jigglypuff. "So you know Fox, right?" she asked.

Katt nodded. "Yeah. I called you down here because I thought you could take care of Starwolf by seeing you guys fight."

"But why are you taking shelter in the first place?" asked Luigi.

"Because the soldiers under command of the Starwolf team are relentless killers. You saw those soldiers up there preparing to kill you if you weren't on their side. They'll kill anybody, even innocent civilians.

So Bill and I prepared a resistance movement underground with our remaining crew members."

"Wait, who's Bill?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Oh, Bill Grey. He's one of Fox's childhood friends. Bill and I are the only ones left that are capable of leading a movement, so we became the leaders. But we need capable fighters on our side to take out the Starwolf Team.

That's where you guys come in. But do you know where Fox and Falco are?"

"Fox is in the skies right now, looking for a place to land…" said Luigi.

"Shit!" Katt yelled. "He's going to be spotted by the air fighters soon if he doesn't find a spot soon enough!"

"Oh I've seen him fight in his Arwing. I'm much more than impressed, really," said Luigi.

"But you left out Falco. What happened to him?" From the sound of how she mentioned Falco, the three smashers could only guess that she was a good friend of his.

Falcon spoke up after recovering from the million slaps on his face. "He um…" His mind was clearly fishing around for a lie that wouldn't disappoint Katt.

Luckily for them, a gray dog with a green cap appeared next to Katt. "Who are they?" he asked.

"Bill, they're friends of Fox."

Bill's eyes widened. "You've seen Fox? How is he right now?" he asked.

"He's perfectly fine!" cried Luigi.

* * *

"Right there! I can see a large cave surrounded by rubble!" cried Samus. 

"Really?" Fox replied. "Nice job!"

The two smashers slowly landed their ships inside a hole barely big enough to fit their two ships in. They both jumped out of the hole and were instantly surrounded by soldiers.

* * *

After more introducing themselves to each other, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, Katt, and Bill gathered at a small, ordinary table. 

"So you're looking for Wolf too?" asked Katt.

"Yup," replied Falcon, punching his right fist into his left palm. "We're here to beat the shit out of him!"

Bill spoke up. "Well in order to reach your target, you'll have to beat his subordinates, the other members of the Starwolf Team."

"Why?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Well that's what our plans suggest," Katt explained. "His crewmates are the main causes of the havoc on our Corneria. After a quick flight in his personal Arwing, Bill learned that Wolf isn't even in Corneria at all at the moment."

"So if we take out his crewmates, I'm sure that he'll come to Corneria periodically to check on his crewmates. And if we took out his crewmates, he'll be a lot easier to take out."

"It's simple…" said Luigi. "Which I don't like… But I think it'd work. Did you learn the flight path of his crewmates?"

"Yes, I have, though I've nearly been shot down several times with Katt while surveying their planes," said Bill. "Wolf has four crewmates in his team, aside from himself. Two we already know: Leon and Pigma. I heard that Pigma betrayed his team for money, but I think they accepted him again for some reason…" He then scowled.

"Wait… I think Fox told me that Pigma sold James McCloud out to Andross for money," said Luigi. "Is that actually true?"

"Yeah…" Katt replied. "Pigma only gives a damn about money. He's a mercenary, though he definitely hates the Starfox Team. I heard Fox got some new recruits in his team. How many now?"

"Um… Well they only have…" Luigi started, but Falcon gave him a glare.

"When are we going to go out to attack then?" asked Falcon.

Katt, clearly suspicious of this interruption, replied, "We're planning on tomorrow, so you guys can rest up a bit. Do you have any more comrades besides Fox?"

"Yes. Her name is Samus, and she wears an orange suit," said Jigglypuff.

"Excellent! So we have five comrades on our side now! And she's landing her ship too, right?"

"Well she should be…"

* * *

"What the hell! There's no damn end to these guys!" Samus cried, blasting away another hundred soldiers with a well-aimed plasma beam shot. 

A light bulb suddenly lit up in Fox's head. He grabbed a large red rod and planted it vertically into the ground while Samus was covering him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Fox pressed a button on the side of the rod then quickly ran the other way, grabbing Samus's hand. "Let's get the hell out of here! Back into that hole we landed in!"

"Wait, what?"

"It's gonna blow up the entire place!" Fox yelled, jumping back into the large caved-in hole. He quickly took out his staff and created a light barrier around him and Samus with it, holding it up.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The rod shot millions of fireballs out of the top of its tip, scattering them everywhere. Whatever they struck, they exploded with the force of a grenade! They peppered every square inch in a mile radius around the hole, killing every single soldier in sight.

Fox and Samus closed their eyes, covering their ears so they won't get damaged. Some bombs even fell into the hole, yet harmlessly deflected off of the light shield that Fox's staff provided for the pair.

After five minutes, the bombs finally ceased. "What the hell was that?" Samus softly asked as Fox sheathed his staff.

"A fireburst pod… Comes in handy in situations like these," said Fox. "Too bad I only had one, and they're pretty rare to come across too…"

Suddenly, the ground below the two smashers cracked. Immediately, both Fox and Samus fell down the hole, landing directly on top of…

"What the hell?" cried Luigi, stuck at the bottom of the pile of smashers once again. "This is the third time it happened! First at Mushroom Kingdom, then at Kanto, then here!"

"Ow…" Jigglypuff groaned, being the smallest and the most squished up.

Luckily for Katt and Bill, they were not part of the pile of smashers. "Fox! It's great to see you!" Katt cried.

Fox groaned. "Hey Katt… Hey Bill…" He jumped off of the pile, being the one on top of everyone. "Been years!" He gave Bill a hard pat on the back and Katt a high five.

"We were just discussing about how to attack the Starwolf Team so we can stop their attacks on our city," said Bill. He looked around, as if looking for someone. "Strange… I half-expected Falco and Slippy to be here… Where are they?"

"…I don't want to talk about it."

"Fox!" Katt cried. "I need to know! Where is Falco?"

"I don't know… I seriously don't know. Now just shut the fuck up about them." Fox's voice was so stern that everyone else glared at him, aghast at what they heard.

"A-hem! Well anyways…" Luigi started. "I'm assuming that Leon is in the main carrier ship that's orbiting Corneria right now."

"Of course," said Bill. "We'll have to set out tomorrow in secret at dawn. By five 'o clock, we should be exactly three miles east from here. There's a suspended building there that we can climb and hide on top. When the ship flies overhead, we sneak onto the ship.

Can any of you jump that high?"

All five smashers nodded.

"Unless you're Bowser or Zelda, you'd have to be able to jump high to be a smasher!" Falcon teased.

"Well take this time to rest you guys!" said Katt. "Just don't go outside of the shelter, otherwise you'll get attacked and might reveal our shelter location."

When the smashers got the chance, they fully observed the setting around them. It was extremely dark underground, lit up by several candles here and there. Several animals were sleeping in cots, playing cards over tables, eating, or planning defensive maneuvers for the city.

Samus looked at her left hand covered in silver armor, pondering about her new powers.

_Is the only way I can become more powerful… The power I have from Ridley… That way? I don't get it. Maybe it's my best choice… Maybe he's right…_

_My life's been a whole lie…_

"Samus!" cried Falcon. "What are you doing there, babe? Get some rest, we have to wake up at half past two!"

* * *

Wolf slammed a sheet of paper on the desk surrounded by the four other Starwolf members. "These are your assignments. Read them, and read them well," he commanded. "Tomorrow, you're going to be piloting the mothership on the same flight path. All of the information that we have gathered are on those papers." 

Leon picked up his paper. "I have… a man clothed in green."

Pigma spat on his own paper. "What's this? A super hero with tight panties?"

"And I have a puffball," growled Panther. "They shouldn't be strong at all."

"Study them hard, you whelps," commanded Wolf, ignoring their comments. "These papers discuss everything that we've found from fights that Mewtwo has observed. These include the fights with Ridley, Vaati, Mewtwo himself, and Cackletta."

Wolf smirked as he walked up to Falco. "And I have special instructions for you. You are not to fucking kill your own target, only to disarm him and capture him."

Falco smiled as he looked over the paper then ripped it apart. "I already know everything about him. And I won't kill him, showing that I'm more powerful than him is good enough, thank you very much."

Wolf turned around to face the entire crew. "And remember… I will not tolerate with fucking failures. You understand?"

* * *

The five smashers were standing on the instructed building miles away from the hole to the shelter. It took them well over an hour because of the endless waves of soldiers constantly attacking them. Katt and Bill rode their Arwings in the skies of Corneria, taking out any fleets that can hamper their simple plan. 

"You guys ready?" asked Fox.

Captain Falcon placed his fist in his palm, sneering. "Definitely ready to beat the fucking shit out of these guys."

"I'm ready to do what I can do…" said Jigglypuff.

Luigi pointed up into the sky. "It's coming. Get ready, everyone!"

Samus looking down at her feet. _Use… Use… I feel so damn hypocritical…_

_Am I really that hopeless?_

Captain Falcon looked at Samus's eyes. He didn't need her to take off her helmet to know that she's thinking about something important.

_Damn it… I wish there was something I could do. My sexy senses would turn on though, and I'd try to hit on her… I have to tell the others about Samus sometime._

But Falcon's thoughts were cut off the moment Luigi yelled, "JUMP!"

All five smashers jumped several meters high onto a large ship that flew overhead. All five landed safely on the top.

"Hey! There's a door here!" Jigglypuff cried, opening a circular lid on top. All five smashers jumped in to invade the mother ship.

They found themselves in a thin hall, trapped between two large groups of robot-like beings.


	38. Chapter 38: Andross

Hack: A new chapter is finally up! It took a while for me to plan out how this arc was going to fit in with the entire story, and I have a pretty good idea on what to write for the rest of the arc. Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 38: Andross**

Depression fell over Mario as he sat down in a lonely jail cell, separated from his pal Yoshi. Tears rolled down his eyes, his arms and legs completely numb and his face covered in dirt and blood. For the first time in his life, he felt completely inferior, completely weak, completely lifeless. He always felt superior to everyone else all the time, not because he was cocky or self-centered, but he actually was most of the time, except for one particular person.

_Luigi… I'm sorry. I should've helped you as much as possible… Now I realize… I'm the weak one…_

Mario looked up to the dark ceiling, wiping away his tears of guilt.

_One day… When I finally see you again… I'll tell you everything. Everything single detail about your past._

* * *

"What are these guys?" asked Captain Falcon. "They look like a step up from those soldiers we faced." 

"Aparoids…" explained Fox. "They were insanely strong when my team faced them… I don't see why they're back, heck I don't see why they're on Wolf's side."

"Doesn't mean they'll be very strong at all for us this time!" Falcon cried, releasing a fierce raptor booster attack on the nearest aparoid. The moment his fist made contact with the aparoid, he immediately retracted his fist, holding it in pain.

"FUCK!!!" he cried. "SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!"

BOOM

"OUCH!!!" Falcon cried again as he felt the power of a super missile take him out.

"Oh shit… Sorry," said Samus. "Looks like none of my attacks will work on these aparoids… they just deflect off of them…"

Immediately, the aparoids released fire upon the smashers. Jigglypuff created a quick protect barrier that deflected all of the bullets back to the aparoids, yet the bullets did no harm to them!

"Get back, everyone," said Luigi. "It's time to fight metal with fire." He released a long stream of fire from his right hands, engulfing every single aparoid in his direction crammed in the hall. After the fire disappeared, each and every aparoid melted!

Luigi whirled around, preparing to shoot another beam of fire when he saw hundreds of aparoids sliced into pieces. After a second, all of them exploded.

"What the…" Luigi gasped. The three other smashers around him looked dumbfounded as well, but Fox was missing.

Fox fell out from the ceiling, smirking and wielding his staff. "Anyone miss me?" he asked. "Too bad I ran out of rocket launcher ammo…"

"Did you just… slice all of them with that dingy rod?" asked Falcon, pointing at his staff.

Fox looked at his staff. It has been a while since he released this kind of power again, and fortunately he's starting to release it by instinct.

If only if he had his other weapons in his arsenal with him… The only other weapon he has on his person is his trusty blaster.

"So how are we going to find the Starwolf Team?" asked Jigglypuff. "Should we split?"

Samus shook her head. "No, last time when we split we all almost died. I have an idea, just give me a minute or two."

She placed her right hand on the side of her silver helmet and tapped it. Her eyes seemed to scan every single inch of the area, every angle possible.

"Uh… What are you doing, babe?" asked Falcon. Fortunately for him, Samus was too busy doing what she was.

After two minutes, Samus took her hand off of her head. "I've found it."

"Found what?" asked Luigi.

"I found four humane figures in this mother ship." Samus looked to her left. "That way is the correct direction to find them in this huge ass place."

Immediately, a few aparoids fell out of nowhere to Samus's right. "Yeah, obviously we'd run to the left to avoid those robots," said Fox, without questioning how Samus knew.

All five smashers quickly ran in that direction as aparoids began to appear, releasing fire on them.

* * *

"They're coming." 

"I know. I felt her X-Ray Visor looking for us. It's clear now that they found the correct path towards us."

"It is smart to tire them out with our battalion of aparoids, as well as our special guest…"

"Ah. You're talking about Andross, right?"

"Yes. But he shall not kill those smashers. We know what would happen to us if _he_ found out that his rival was killed."

"Heck, if Andross goes too far, we will have to execute him."

"Yes… They will be reaching Andross very soon…"

"About now I think."

* * *

The five smashers arrived in a large, blank room with absolutely nothing except a sealed metal door at the other end. No windows were present, creating shadows on every single inch of the room. However, light was somehow present in the room. 

"They're all behind that door," said Samus, using her X-Ray Visor again.

"I sense something… In this room," said Jigglypuff.

"Really? You do?" asked Falcon. "I can't tell a damn thing."

"Me neither," Fox added.

"No, she's right. I'm sure someone's watching us right now," said Luigi.

Samus quickly aimed her arm cannon upwards at the ceiling and fired an Ice Spreader attack. The entire ceiling immediately became frozen except for a large circular spot in the center, which was replaced by an enormous head of a monkey, which easily dwarfed the size of twenty Bowsers put together. It immediately fell down, breaking free of its frozen state. Milliseconds before it landed splat on the ground, the head regained its balance in mid-air, floating. Two brown furry hands appeared, each as big as Bowser (boy I like using Bowser as a part of a simile) and ready to pound anything it wants.

"You can't hide from my thermal visor, oversized monkey," said Samus, pointing her arm cannon at him.

"That's… Andross?" said Fox. "How are you still alive?"

"You idiot!" the head known as Andross yelled. "Another second and you would all be dead!"

"By a cowardly assault," added Falcon.

"My job is to seal you fools all up down here so my… masters…" Andross's face cringed at the word 'masters'. "can dispose of you!"

"Wait, masters?" asked Luigi.

Before Luigi was able to receive his answer, Andross's right floating hand slammed into the ground, creating enormous circular shockwaves traveling across the ground. All five smashers jumped into the air to avoid this shockwave, but Andross expected this.

"Eat this!"

The left hand pointed its fingers at its first target: Samus. The tips of all five fingers opened up and released heat-seeking lasers at her, piercing through every single joint of her armor suit.

"Ugh!"

Samus fell to the ground, her suit collapsing. "You bastard…" she coughed. She tried moving her right arm cannon to aim it at Andross, yet she couldn't budge it an inch. Looking horrified, she tried to move her legs and they were stunned as well.

_Fuck! Am I paralyzed? This is crazy!_

But by the time Samus thought of this cause, the four other smashers wrecked fiery hell upon Andross. Luigi and Jigglypuff released multiple streams of fire at each of Andross's hands, Fox peppered Andross's back with fireballs fired from his staff, and Captain Falcon let loose a million punches and kicks set on fire onto Andross's face.

By the time the four smashers were finished with their assault, the only thing Andross could say was…

"Ow."

His face fell facedown onto the ground, and his hands stopped levitating. All of the smashers rushed to Samus's help.

"Samus! Are you okay?" Falcon asked, being the fastest.

"I'm all right! Just paralyzed! Don't get hit by his lasers, they paralyze if you didn't notice!"

Fox, Luigi, and Jigglypuff reached Samus's side as well, asking her if she was all right. All of their backs, except for Samus, were facing Andross, who was rising up again. His right hand was pointed at Jigglypuff, about to release lasers again…

"Jigglypuff! Watch out!" Samus cried, being the only one to notice, but it was too late. The lasers struck cleanly, releasing large explosions.

"Gwah ha ha! You're friend should be dead by now! Nobody could survive my laser bombs!" Andross screamed, finally hovering back in the air again.

After the explosions cleared out, Jigglypuff was nowhere to be seen! Samus, Luigi, and Fox were speechless as to what had happened, but two familiar sounds were heard that confirmed their suspicions.

"FALCON PUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!"

RESTED!!!!

Andross was sent flying away from the smashers and towards the wall, set on fire. Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff had struck him from behind.

Slow-Motion Replay:

"Jigglypuff! Watch out!" Samus cried. One millimeter before the lasers struck Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon appeared next to her, crouching. He grabbed her and sunk into the shadow present on the ground. The moment the lasers struck that spot, Falcon and Jigglypuff emerged from the shadow again, directly behind Andross.

The rest is history.

_Should I try out my new combo?_

_No, it's too risky. Andross is easy shit compared with the Starwolf Team, I think. You can't reveal what combos you're capable of using. You've only used them in the End of Time before._

_I'm not sure… But if I save it for whatever bastard's behind that door… I'm not very experienced._

_I'd save it. I'm sure that the Ring of Darkness has considered us a threat by now, and is observing each and every one of our moves. We've never revealed our secret speed combo yet, so it should be used when we must…_

…_I see. So because we don't need it against Andross… I shouldn't use it. Only when I must._

_Exactly._

Captain Falcon's confident smile turned into a horizontal line.

_Yes, let's use it when I'm by myself._

_Or more importantly…_

_When I have to use it to protect someone from some bitch._

Andross staggered as he regained his balance in the air, almost crashing into the wall.

"Nice going, Falcon and Jigglypuff!" cried Luigi, giving a wink. It was most certainly the worst time for him to celebrate, as he didn't notice the two enormous hands surrounding his sides.

SPLAT!

Luigi was sandwiched between Andross's hands, feeling the pressure threatening to flatten him into a pancake. He felt his skull about to fall apart into pieces when he felt something grab his right wrist.

ZING!

Samus used the last of her strength and pulled Luigi out from Andross's grasp with her grappling beam moments before Luigi could have been killed. Taking Luigi's place, Fox stood between the two hands, holding his staff up horizontally. Unnoticeably, Andross used his final bit of strength to crush whatever was between his hands.

"ARGH!!!"

Fox jumped out of the way at the exact second Andross's hands crashed together. However, he left his staff there, which impaled both gargantuan hands directly in the center. Nothing could describe the agonizing pain that Andross was experiencing, as the staff coincidentally struck the main nerve system in his hands, making them completely immobile and useless now.

Blood spurted out everywhere as Fox yanked his staff out from Andross's palms with a disgusting squelching noise. No more sound was heard from Andross, though. Why?

BAM!

Luigi spiked Andross into the ground with a well placed one-hit drill kick. He fell to the ground, wavedashed towards the recovering head, and threw his fist up into the air, knocking him back into the air slightly. Luigi jumped up again and used his famous karate-ish slap, sending Andross into the wall. He was knocked off of the wall and back towards Luigi, who used another drill kick to knock him back to the ground.

But Andross had one more trick up his sleeve. The moment Luigi fell towards him to continue his combo, Andross opened his mouth into a wide circle, mimicking a black hole.

"What the hell??" Luigi screamed as he felt himself being sucked into Andross. But before he could react, he fell inside Andross's mouth. After a second, Captain Falcon angrily gave Andross a powerful fire punch, knocking Luigi out of Andross.

"Luigi! You okay?" Falcon cried, but it was no use. Luigi was knocked out, just like that.

Andross smirked. "You're next!"

He opened his mouth and Falcon felt the same effects as Luigi, being sucked in. Falcon quickly began to run as fast as possible, attempting to overpower the black hole. The other smashers would laugh at the sight if it wasn't a serious fight; it looked like Falcon was running in place.

Suddenly, Captain Falcon was given a huge burst of speed. He easily outran the black hole, and Andross looked completely lost in what had happened.

Simple. A quick baton pass by Jigglypuff allowed her to pass on the effects of Agility to Captain Falcon.

Unfortunately for Andross, he didn't have the time to ponder about it, let alone close his mouth. Jigglypuff appeared in his range and looked like she was _running towards_ the black hole.

_It's time to see if this new move works…_

"Sludge Bomb!"

Using the move that Mewtwo had used to poison Pikachu, a purple liquid-like ball appeared before Jigglypuff and was immediately sucked by Andross into his body.

The moment the poisonous bomb entered Andross, he immediately felt the effects. He closed his mouth, blood leaking out from his nose and eyes.

"Wha? What jus append to meh? Wai can I spek cowectly?" Andross asked, before a sudden burst of pain entered his mouth.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!! MAH TONG! WHA DI YU DO?"

After another minute of thrashing around in pain, Andross exploded, sending blood flying everywhere. All five smashers (Samus and Luigi now conscious) were splattered by Andross's blood, surprised by the effects of poison.

"Whoa… Go Jigglypuff…" said Falcon. "If Pikachu got poisoned any longer back then, I'd hate to see his body explode…"

Luigi nodded. "Well I'm sure being attacked mentally by Psychic is a lot worse than being poisoned."

All five smashers looked at the lone door. For them, Andross seemed to be a simple warm-up. Fox walked up to the door and turned the knob, revealing nothing but darkness.

"Are you sure this is the right direction?" he asked.

Samus nodded. "It's some sort of dimension, but I can see them… I can tell where they are. Don't worry about me."

_Don't worry about me? Right…_

"Come on, you slowpokes!" Luigi cried. "Captain Falcon already jumped in! Let's go!"

The four remaining smashers nodded as they followed Luigi into the blank darkness. They were all immediately separated by an unknown force into separate directions.

Four of the five smashers found themselves isolated inside a dark room, accompanied by one person.

* * *

"…Who are you?" asked Luigi. 

"Funny you should ask," said Leon, holding up a thin, long silver sword. "It's nice to meet you, Luigi. The name is Leon, the vice-captain of the Starwolf Team."

Luigi flicked his wrist once, a flash of fire appearing and disappearing above his index finger. "Well you seem like you're going to give me lots of fun right now."

Leon got into a fighting stance. "That's right. All inferior beings shall be disposed of. I am the boss of all of you inferior beings. And all who disagree with our ideas… Shall be exterminated."

"Well guess what? I've got a couple new tricks up my sleeve, a temporary new weapon." He drew something up from his bottom pockets…

* * *

"Holy shit! What the hell is that?" Falcon gasped as he faced an enormous robot that looked like a human with a pig's head on it. A sneering voice was discharged from the inside of the head of the robot. 

"You like my new invention? I finished building it just yesterday," said Pigma. "It should be damn immune to all of your damn attacks, you whelp!"

"Oh really?" Falcon smirked. "A cocky little bitch, huh?"

"Watch your damn tongue, or you might lose it you panty-freak!"

"Panty-freak? Now you've crossed the line, you runt! Get ready for a fucking beating!"

* * *

"Where am I…?" asked Jigglypuff. Suddenly, a black cat stood in an arbitrary blue spotlight. 

"He comes out from the shadows mysteriously… The women scream for him… He is the brave one in the ship… He is the black cat… He is the one and only…"

The black panther smiled as he threw a rose into the air. "Panther!"

Jigglypuff looked flabbergasted. _He reminds me a bit of James in Kanto…_

"Unfortunately I got a little puffball for an enemy, not that beautiful young lady. Even better, if I was teamed up with Krystal we'd be an unstoppable team. But alas, that is not the case. You may be a cute little puffball, yet you are going to be taken down by me."

"You shouldn't underestimate me…"

"I know. You are the one that took out Mewtwo. I should not take you lightly. But it seems that you are the one who is underestimating me…"

His two paws extended into claws with sharp nails…

* * *

Samus looked confused as to where she was. _Strange… Wasn't that portal all dark and stuff? Yet…_

She was standing in a bright white room. At the other end was Wolf O'Donnell, sitting in a comfortable couch.

Something was not right here…

"Samus! It's great to see you!" cried Wolf.

"Cut to the chase, Wolf," Samus coolly replied. "I'm here to kill you off right now." She threatened him by pointing her arm cannon at him.

"Really? Well I am over ten times more powerful than Mewtwo, do you seriously think you have a chance?"

"Yes."

Wolf shook his head. "Well then… I guess I have something to reveal to you about the Endowment of Exigency…"

* * *

"Falco? What are you… Why…" Fox gasped. 

Falco smiled. "I notice your speechless expression. Let me make it clean and simple. You've taken away what I love in life: dog fighting. Even more, you took away my morality. You rejected my beliefs, no matter how together we were."

"Falco… Why are you with Wolf…"

"Why am I with Wolf?" Falco repeated Fox's question as if it was a joke. "Can't you see? I'd love to be in a team that accepts what I believe in. They realized my potential, as a pilot and as a fighter, and Wolf accepted me immediately."

Fox shook his head. "But I rejected your beliefs… It's all the rules."

"Exactly. It was against your rules. Starwolf's rules are obviously different. I get to do what **I** believe in. And I just noticed, I started to grow attached to this team.

Why are you so speechless then? You didn't expect to see me with Wolf, right? No wait, you didn't want to see me in your entire life ever again. Well you know you're going to see me, especially at the Smash Mansion."

"But Falco… You're helping the enemy! How could you do that?"

"You were trying to help the enemy too by wanting to save Corneria rather than the entire universe."

That sentence alone shut Fox up.

Falco continued. "It's the same, isn't it? Your selfish desires over the entire universe. It makes perfect sense. Even if the universe was in chaos, you know you wouldn't care about it if Corneria was in more danger."

"No! That's not true!" Fox felt guilt pierce through his heart at that moment.

Did he just lie to Falco and himself just now?

"Believe it, Fox. You know it's true." Falco pointed his blaster up at Fox. "I've always waited for this day, where we'd finally face off outside of the smasher's virtual world. No matter what happens, you better fucking give it your all."

Fox, still speechless, looked at Falco. Understanding the situation, he prepared his three trusty weapons: his staff, blaster, and reflector.

"I understand, Falco. If you want a battle… You got one!"


	39. Chapter 39: Shield and Sword

Hack: Luigi vs. Leon fight! Enjoy it!

And yes, all of these side stories about Mario will lead to something quite important in the near future. It won't seem like it much at the moment, though.

* * *

**Chapter 39: Shield and Sword  
**

"So Mario, how do you expect to get out of here?" asked Yoshi through the prison barriers created by the X-Nauts.

"I don't know," replied Mario. "I've tried using everything: all of my hammer attacks, fire, FLUDD, etcetera."

Yoshi tossed another egg at the barrier around him, but it exploded to no avail. "Damn it!"

Mario sat down, resting his dirty legs and shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure something will work out for us."

_Yoshi, carrying Mario on his back, arrived at Peach's castle, which was now a huge pile of rubble._

"_Oh my god…" Yoshi gasped, speechless at the sight._

_Mario jumped off of his steed and walked up to the pile of rubble, Yoshi following him._

"_Peach! Are you there?" he yelled. He knew it was useless, but he felt more secure if he at least tried to find her_

_He felt a piece of string tug at his leg as he walked, and before he knew what happened, Yoshi and Mario were surrounded by a prison force field. Several midgets with glasses and white cloaked heads surrounded the pair of heroes, wearing a red shirt with an X imprinted on them._

"I really doubt that things will go our way this time…" said Yoshi.

"Geez, being pessimistic at the best time ever…" Mario rolled his eyes. After a silent moment, he spotted a black circular shadow on the floor directly in front of him…

* * *

Luigi carried two strange minute cylindrical devices with a cylindrical hole in them, each in one hand. He attached them to each of his gloves and they stuck to them instantly. 

"You said I should be disposed of?" Luigi commented at Leon. "You're wrong."

He released two streams, one electricity and one fire, towards Leon. The lizard quickly dashed to the side with his intense speed, avoiding the attack.

"That's you're new weapon? You seriously are a weakling!"

Luigi's face remained unchanged, yet still determined. He saw Leon dashing towards him from his left and leaned his head back to avoid a slash that would normally have beheaded him. The moment Leon retraced his sword, Luigi hopped into the air, curled into a ball, and shot his legs towards Leon's face.

Leon was not stupid. He blocked Luigi's counter with the blunt side of his sword and pushed Luigi away, knocking him to the ground.

"I know your damn weaknesses from the reports, weak mortal," said Leon. "You're inability to wield weapons…"

He threw his sword on the vulnerable Luigi, but the blade felt nothing except the ground. Luigi had just rolled out of the way and jumped back into his fighting stance!

"Inability to wield weapons?" commented Luigi. "Whoever wrote those reports…" He took out a red, steel hammer with an enormous head.

"Isn't very observant!" he cried, smashing his hammer into the ground. "Quake Hammer!"

The powerful impact of his hammer caused the ground to shake violently, yet briefly. It was more than enough to knock Leon off of his feet.

Luigi jumped into the air, above Leon, and wielding his ultra hammer. "Mega Smash!" he cried, about to crush Leon with his mighty hammer.

SLISH!

Moments before Luigi's hammer struck Leon's head, Leon threw his sword forward, towards the base of the hammer's head. In an instant, the hammer head was sliced off of its handle, flying towards the wall and embedded itself there. Luigi stood speechless at what had happened, still keeping his hammer's handle suspended still in the air; Leon took this moment to his advantage.

"Hyah!"

Leon swung his sword horizontally, making a quick slash through Luigi's stomach. Luckily, Luigi was fast enough to pull back so the slash would not be lethal. He walked backwards, holding his new long cut with his hands, which are starting to stain with blood. But Leon did not give him any time to plan a strategy. He dashed forward and led an assault of millions of slashes with his sword. Luigi elegantly, yet barely, dodged every single one of them, despite his new cut.

FOOM! Leon swung his sword horizontally at Luigi's torso, who ducked underneath the slash.

FWIP! Leon changed the direction of his sword, aiming it vertically down Luigi's head. Luigi rolled to the side.

FIM! Leon swung his body around, creating a quick horizontal spin attack with his sword. Luigi jumped over this spin attack, continuing to dodge every single slash.

However, Leon smiled. _Gotcha._

Leon shot his outrageously long tongue (though not as long as Yoshi's tongue) and wrapped it around Luigi's ankle, causing him to fall to the ground. Leon retracted his tongue, and without any hesitation at all, thrusted his sword towards Luigi's head.

CLANG!

"What?"

Luigi raised his left hand to block the sword with his forearm. However, there wasn't a cut on him!

Between Leon's sword and Luigi's forearm was a circular shield made of fire, and it was attached to one of his 'secret weapons' attached to the back of his glove.

"That assault back there wasn't my new weapon," said Luigi, standing up, still keeping his shield in contact with Leon's sword. Before Leon could do anything, Luigi ran.

Or, one should say, Luigi ran while shoving his fire shield into Leon's sword, pushing him towards a black wall.

Leon, now sandwiched between the wall and Luigi, was struggling to keep his own sword (pushed by Luigi's new shield) away from his own face.

"You little mortal…" he muttered. He swung his foot between Luigi's legs, striking his crotch painfully.

Or, unlike the mistake Captain Falcon made in Mushroom Kingdom, Luigi jumped into the air, still pushing Leon's sword towards Leon himself.

Luigi held out his right hand, forming a green fireball. He quickly released it at Leon's face, who was still blocking his shield.

"UGH!"

Leon dropped his sword as he held his burning face in pain. Without any defense at all, Luigi pushed his shield at Leon's stomach, setting it on fire.

Leon painfully dropped to the ground, rolling around furiously until the fires on his body disappeared. The moment he got back up, right before his eyes was a glowing hand.

FOOOOOOM!

Leon quickly jumped to the side, cringing in pain because of his new scorch marks. Luigi whirled around and fired more fireballs, one at a time, towards Leon. Now the game of chicken started again, with the roles switched around. Each time Leon attempted to make a run for his sword, Luigi shot a fireball at his sword, forcing him to dodge in the other direction.

_Not so much a pushover for a mortal… Let's see how he can keep up with my true powers…_

"Do you know why I was chosen to deal with you?" Leon asked, still dodging fireball after fireball.

"Hm? Why?" Luigi was obviously still concentrating on burning Leon into a crisp.

"Well out of the five of you, you are the slowest. Captain Falcon and Fox are both very fast people, and the two others have abilities that speed them up. However, neither applies to you. What better way to counter a slow fighter than with a speedy fighter like me?"

Leon suddenly disappeared! Luigi shot a fireball at Leon's sword, but moments before it reached it, the sword disappeared!

_Shit…_

Luigi's side was met with several rapid slashes, creating several new fresh cuts on his right. As good sense would say, Luigi jumped to his left to avoid getting cut into mince-meat. Unfortunately, Leon wasn't going to let that happen.

With his intense speed, Leon appeared directly to Luigi's right and continued his onslaught. However, instead of hearing the sound of clothing ripping, he heard… zapping noises!

Even stranger, clanging noises!

Luigi held, in his right hand, a thin sword completely made of violet electricity (looks like the beam sword except with its handle electricity). And as one would expect, the end of its handle had the other 'secret weapon' of Luigi's attached to it. He successfully countered each and every strike flawlessly from Leon, giving a look of determination.

"You might as well give up, my sword skills are unparalleled in the smash community for someone who doesn't major in sword fighting," said Luigi. "Something I have tons of pride for, really."

Leon quickly jumped back, giving both fighters a quick breather.

"You know my tactic, Luigi?" asked Leon. "I enjoy to slice my opponents bit by bit, hearing him scream in pain as I slowly drain away his life."

"Oh really? Well I don't really care that much."

Leon disappeared. Luigi waited on the spot for a moment before he suddenly swayed his body around, as if he was dancing. Apparently, he was dodging every single invisible slash around him. Leon was moving so fast that he was actually invisible!

"Combining your sword techniques with speed, huh?" said Luigi. "Pretty impressive, but…"

Luigi continued to dance on the same spot, moving his arms and head around to avoid lethal slices. His eyes flashed, and he threw his arm to his left, grabbing a piece of cloth. He drew that figure towards him and threw Leon towards the wall at intense velocities.

"I don't need speed to win."

Luigi literally _threw_ his electric sword at Leon's stunned body, accurately piercing it through Leon's heart. However, instead of feeling cold steel stabbing his heart, he felt millions of volts of electricity spread through his heart. A second later, the volts spread throughout the lizard's entire body, causing him to scream and howl with pain.

Fortunately for Leon, the electric sword didn't kill him. He laid there, his body steaming with black smoke. He staggered as he used his sword for support to getting back up.

"So… You're electric sword is… weaker… than mine…" he said.

"Yes and no," replied Luigi. "My sword is capable of sending over a thousand volts of electricity through whatever it touches. It can't give anyone any lethal or even severe wounds, at least physical ones. It focuses on inflicting pain from the inside."

"I see… So you're sword cannot kill…" Leon got back on his feet, shivering a little in pain from the shock (pun intended P)

"Does it matter?" asked Luigi, holding up his two newly invented items: his flame shield and electric sword. "I knew that one day, I'd face a sword fighter like you. My hammer would be no match for you guys, so I had to make a weapon like this. And here we are, I'm facing a sword fighter like you."

"Peh! Being more prepared… You'll see the true meaning behind being a swordsman!"

Leon dashed towards Luigi (slightly more slowly), holding up his sword. Luigi successfully blocked the assault with his shield and thrusted his own sword underneath his shield, at Leon's legs.

Somehow, Leon's legs had the power to support his weight as he jumped over Luigi, landing behind him! He threw his own sword at Luigi's unsuspecting back, expecting it to stab through.

Luigi performed a stylish back flip, avoiding the stab, and landing directly on top of Leon's head! He leaped off of his head and used a fierce drill kick attack on Leon, pounding him into the ground.

However, the moment Luigi's foot touched Leon, it met with the tip of Leon's blade! Before he knew what happened, the sword was impaled through Luigi's right foot. Even worse, after it was impaled, Luigi spun to perform his drill kick, currently unaware of the attack. His foot spun while pivoting on the sword, creating a bigger hole.

Now was the time that the pain shocked through Luigi's foot, and eventually through his body.

"ARGH!"

Luigi immediately jumped off of Leon and his sword, sitting on the floor and examining his foot.

"My foot! What the hell?"

Leon hopped back on his feet and charged at Luigi, who was literally a sitting duck.

CLANG!

Luigi blocked it with his shield once again, standing on his left foot alone. He used the wall behind him for balance, as his right foot was redeemed useless and unable to support his weight.

"You damn lizard…" Luigi muttered angrily. His electric sword disappeared for some reason, and Leon smiled.

"It seems like your sword has limited power."

"Yes, it does…" Luigi jumped up with his left leg and performed a wall jump over Leon, landing on the other side of the room.

Blood smeared every inch of his ripped shoe covering his right foot. Leon had impaled his foot directly through the center, through the bone.

_I obviously can't face him like this in close range combat… I hope my plan works out. I have to attack from afar._

Luigi pointed his right hand at Leon and fired several fireballs in his direction. Of course, Leon dodged all of them effortlessly, now fully recovered from the electric sword assault.

However, Leon did the unexpected: While running to the side to avoid another fireball, he literally _ran up the wall_! Luigi, taken back by this new maneuver, continued to fire.

It didn't take Luigi long to notice that Leon was approaching him, slowly yet steadily. Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about it with his fragmented foot. He had only one choice, and only one chance to make it…

Leon finally stood directly in front of Luigi, slashing and hacking at him. Luigi moved his body around, keeping his left foot on the ground and his left arm attached to the wall, dodging every single slash.

For Leon, it didn't take him long to notice that Luigi was keeping his left arm and leg still. He literally _threw_ his sword at Luigi's left arm, directly at the elbow! With no choice, Luigi let go of the wall, losing his balance and about to fall.

He wasn't about to give up.

_It's time to end this!_

Luigi stood up on both feet, ignoring the roaring pain piercing through his right leg. He threw his left hand forward and grabbed Leon's face!

"Wha?… What are you doing?" Leon cried, his voice now muffled by Luigi's… green glove?

KZAP!

BOOM!

Luigi released all of the electricity saved in his green glove, including all of the electricity that formed his violet energy sword. An enormous blast of electricity covered every single inch directly in front of Luigi, including Leon's face.

There was a loud explosion. After the smoke cleared out, Luigi saw Leon's face, which was completely unrecognizable. No longer was it the green lizard face he had fought with a second ago.

Instead, it was simply a black, charred irregular sphere.

There was no need to check Leon's body if he was dead or not. He was most certainly dead.

Leon's body fell to the ground, leaving a large puddle of blood that instantly dried with the ground. Luigi dropped himself to the ground also, resisting the stinging pain in his foot. He wiped away all the sweat on his forehead with his left arm, with the flame shield turned off.

"You like that?" he cried. "My sword… over a million volts to create it, all absorbed by this glove… Definitely dead by now."

He coughed out loud, just as the room around him transformed, back to the white room that he fought Andross in!

"What the fuck?"


	40. Chapter 40: Disadvantages Overcame

Hack: This fanfic has reached its fortieth chapter! HUZZAH! And I'd say it's around a third of the way done at this point, maybe close to half. Not so sure. Enjoy Captain Falcon's first solo fight in this fic!

…Actually, in my opinion this fight might turn out to be a bit bland and weak, as it's a little more difficult to describe Captain Falcon's fighting style… Unfortunately. But trust me, I'll do my best to make it as cool and interesting as possible.

* * *

**Chapter 40: Disadvantages Overcame**

"…What? The Starwolf battalion was wiped out? I thought you took care of every single remnant capable of fighting back in the skies! What do you mean there were… YOU WERE TAKEN OUT BY ONLY TWO SHIPS? That's pathetic…"

The soldier on the other side of the phone whimpered a bit. "But… their names were Katt and Bill… Two remaining Corneria fighters, and competent ones too…"

"Gr… Never mind. But why would they attack now?"

"Our leaders of the Starwolf team have left to take out the smashers."

"Ah, so those five are on the mothership right now, eh?"

"Yes, Lord Black Shadow."

"Prepare a teleportation device! Expect me, Metaknight, and Alex to arrive. I want to get down to business with them."

Black Shadow closed his cell phone after giving his final orders to the Starwolf grunt, giving off an evil smile. "It's time to get down to business…"

* * *

"What's the deal with that huge ass robot, little piggy?" Captain Falcon taunted. "Too scared to face me like a man?" 

Pigma smirked. "No, not scared at all, just taking advantage of your easy weaknesses!"

Falcon crouched. "We'll see about that, bacon-pie!"

Captain Falcon ran towards the human-like robot and kicked the metal joints of both of its legs several hundred times. He ran up on top of its shoulders and continued his assault on the arms. Finally, he jumped on top of the cockpit and threw his leg into the glass, which surprisingly didn't crack at all! He jumped off and landed back at where he started, facing the robot again.

And all of this was done in less than five seconds. Noticeably slower than Wolf's speed, unfortunately.

Pigma practically laughed his ass off. "GWAH HA HA! Look at you! I can simply sit here and watch you tire yourself out, trying to destroy my invincible robot! I know you from my reports, you can't touch me!"

The robot's right arm was pointed at Captain Falcon. "But I can touch you!" It immediately released an enormous blue beam of energy directly at Falcon, who rolled to the side to barely avoid it.

"What the fuck? I can touch you?" Falcon yelled, dodging another beam with his extreme speed. "That sounds so fucking wrong, dude!"

"Shut up! I didn't mean it that way, tighty-pants!"

Captain Falcon sped up towards the robot once again and charged his right fist, aiming it at the leg joint once again with a raptor boost attack. His fist harmlessly bounced off of the metallic leg, releasing an enormous shock of pain through his entire arm.

"FUCK!"

"Gwah ha ha! I told you my device is immortal to your harmless fists!" Pigma screamed, attempting to have his robot's leg squish Falcon into a pancake. Luckily, Captain Falcon reacted fast enough to run out of the way.

"This is going to be a pain in the ass…" murmured Captain Falcon, putting his hands together. "Time for some shadow action!"

He waited for a moment, seeming as if he was concentrating. After a couple seconds, he looked confused.

"What the fuck?"

BAM

A laser pierced through his right shoulder creating a deep cylindrical hole in it. Falcon yelped in pain as he jumped to the side to avoid another piercing laser from Pigma.

Falcon then finally analyzed the room for a quick second, then the obvious hit him.

_Damn… This room is completely…_

"Bright, right?" teased Pigma. "That way, you can't use your damn shadow powers since there is no inch of shadow anywhere, except made by you of course. My machine is specialized to be transparent with direct light in the spectrum…"

(I know if this was true, then his machine would be invisible because I know how the human eye works. Just pretend that isn't true!)

Captain Falcon looked up at Pigma. "So you're saying that your machine can't create shadows, right?"

"You catch on quickly, tighty-pants. So I am completely immune to all of your attacks!"

Pigma fired several more lasers, one at a time. Falcon effortlessly dodged every single one as if it was dodge ball.

"You can't avoid them for long!"

Pigma accurately aimed three lasers, two at Captain Falcon and one to his right, forcing him to dodge to the left. He pulled off the same maneuver again, forcing Falcon to his left.

_Trying to gain control of the fight? I'm not going to let you, damn it!_

By the fifth time Pigma used his tactic to force Falcon to move, the racer immediately stopped moving, closing his eyes. He raised his right arm up, and a black arm emerged out directly in front of him, blocking all three lasers.

"What the fuck?" Pigma cried. "There's no damn shadow!"

But before Pigma could react out from his surprise, Captain Falcon finally moved on to the offensive again. In a second, Pigma felt his machine rattle several thousand times by fists and feet banging on every inch of it. Somehow, he felt unsafe in his cozy, steel machine, but he immediately reassured himself that his robot was one hundred percent Falcon-proof.

_There is no damn way that I can get hurt! I'm invincible from this gay idiot!_

"You know how I did that?" asked Falcon. "I used my own damn shadow!"

"Well it's time to expose your next weakness, punk!" Pigma yelled at Captain Falcon. He pressed a button in his cockpit, and the floor completely opened up! Captain Falcon jumped up to the wall, avoiding whatever hazard he was about to face.

It wasn't a hazard, or it didn't seem like one at first… It was just a floor made of ice.

Unfortunately, Captain Falcon just noticed that it was bad news for him and good news for Pigma. He couldn't run on ice at all.

"Shit!"

"Gwah ha ha! You like that? All you focus on is running and jumping around, and with ice on the ground there's no way you can do that!" Pigma screamed triumphantly.

Captain Falcon landed on the ice and tried running. He immediately slipped on the ice, falling on his back.

SHING!

He quickly rolled to the side to avoid a steel stalactite from cutting his body into two, catching a view of the entire room. Somehow, the walls and the ceilings all turned to ice too!

_Shit… things are NOT looking too damn good for me._

Captain Falcon attempted to stand on his two feet again and immediately slipped, forcing him to roll to the side again to dodge several lasers.

"GWAH HA HA HA! You like that? You really like that? Take that! And that!" Pigma screamed as if he was on a berserk rampage, firing laser after laser. "IT'S DAMN OVER! GIVE UP!"

"Not just yet!" replied Falcon, but he was completely trapped now. Several lasers were about to hit him and every single spot near him, so he couldn't roll out of the way. Unfortunately, there was no shadow for him to make use of either. _I can't forget about the training with fire that Vivian taught me… I fucked it all up in my team battle with Jiggly against Vivian and Spekkio. But there was another time when I fucked it up even more… I don't think Vivian'll ever forget that incident._

* * *

"_Come on, Falcon!" cried Vivian. "Release that hidden mana in your arm and release fire on this sheet of paper!"_

"_I'm trying, damn it!" replied Captain Falcon, holding his right arm out. "I don't see how Luigi can do this at all!" He snapped his fingers, and a lame spark appeared on the sheet of paper that Vivian held in her left hand, doing absolutely nothing.._

_Vivian sighed. "I don't see how we're going to get through teaching you fire. It's already the fifth day you've been training with me and we just started manipulating fire today."_

"_Damn it, I'm trying my hardest! Can't you see?"_

"_Well you should be trying more than your hardest! Try it again!"_

_Captain Falcon performed the same maneuver, and another tiny, useless spark flicked out. "Damn it!" He slammed his hand into the ground, causing pain to ring through his entire arm. "Ugh!"_

"_Calm down! It's all right!" said Vivian._

"_Oh, you tell me that it's not all right first, then you tell me it's all right! Nice job!" Falcon angrily replied, massaging his right arm. "I can't concentrate on this crap at all, especially with you commenting on everything! I need fucking practice! The fact that it's all dark everywhere doesn't help at all!"_

_Vivian was taken aback from Falcon's rude comments. However, a light bulb lit up in her head. "I have a solution."_

"_What is it, oh mighty shadow princess?"_

_Vivian ignored the rude name. "Don't think about me. Don't think about your surroundings. Don't even think about what's happening. Release all your emotions and clear it. You're experiencing anger right now, towards me and your environment. That's really hampering your progress through using fire magic."_

_Falcon rolled his eyes. "Whatever…"_

"_You're not doing what I'm telling you to do!"_

"_Fine, fine!" Falcon closed his eyes, calming himself down._

_The result of that lesson? An enormous explosion that severely burned Vivian and Captain Falcon (melting the paper in less than half a second too), forcing them to halt training for the rest of the day._

* * *

_Release all of my emotions… Clear it of everything… Don't even think about the damn situation everywhere. Don't think about the ice._

Captain Falcon held his arm out, closing his eyes.

_Let's see if your theory works, Vivian. This is going to be the third time I'm using it…_

"Fiery Jinx!"

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

_Thank god I had control over it this time…_

Millions of tiny fiery explosions caused every single laser to disappear, giving Captain Falcon some time to react. Pigma was speechless.

"Wha… What the fuck just happened?"

Captain Falcon snapped his fingers and the section of ice below him melted into a steel floor. He stood up on his feet triumphantly. "You said it was over? No way in hell, you bitchy piece of pork."

"What the fuck? I never knew you could use fire!" Pigma yelled. _But luckily my robot is also fireproof… no need to worry anyways. Gwah ha ha!_

"By the looks on your face, it looks like your robot is still invincible, right?" asked Falcon.

Pigma nearly fell over. "H… How did you guess?"

"It's so damn obvious! You reveal everything with your facial expression!"

"Peh! Whatever! You're still surrounded by ice! It ends now!"

Captain Falcon kneeled down for a second, then sped away from every single laser, running fluently without slipping! A blaze of fire flowed from the bottom of his feet, melting any spot of ice within an inch from it. But instead of Falcon Kick, it was…

"_Falcon Dash_!"

He was unbelievably fast, faster than he ever ran. He disappeared within a blink of an eye, and within _a tenth of a second_, Pigma felt a hundred, no, a thousand, no, over a million punches on his machine!

Unfortunately, it didn't make a dent on Pigma's robot. However, Pigma was now panicking. He could feel every single vibration through his body as his robot rumbled from Falcon's hits.

Captain Falcon looked up at the ceiling, which had light bulbs inside in the ice ceiling! Falcon smiled. Things were finally starting to look up for him.

He snapped his fingers again, and several tiny explosions were heard. Every single light bulb exploded, shattering into pieces. The room was extremely dim now, Pigma was barely able to see Captain Falcon.

Pigma flicked a switch on the ceiling of his cockpit and the head of his robot fired two light beams, providing temporary flashlights. It seemed like it was blocked by a huge, black wall!

Millions of hands emerged from the ground and around the robot's feet. All of them grabbed both feet, pinning Pigma into place. He immediately spotted a faint outline of Captain Falcon lying down on the glass window of his cockpit.

"Falcon Dive!"

Captain Falcon leaped off of the cockpit, sending the robot crashing down on its back. Pigma screamed as his supposedly invincible robot fell on its back. Luckily for him, nothing broke.

But unfortunately for Pigma, his robot couldn't move at all because of the shadowy hands grabbing its feet. Actually, several arms grabbed any part of the robot that they could grab, pinning the robot to the ground and making it completely immobile.

"What the hell is this?" Pigma screamed. He saw the familiar faint outline of Captain Falcon again, and his right fist was shining…

"Followed by Falcon…"

"Peh! You really think you can destroy my robot? I dare you, punk!"

"PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"

Captian Falcon's fist pierced through the head of the robot, blasted through the cockpit and barely scorched Pigma's left cheek. Pigma screamed and jumped out of his cockpit, grabbing a gun and firing away like a madman.

"DIE! DIE YOU UNGRATEFUL DAMNED RACER! JUST DIE!"

But guns were not enough to hit the lightning speedy Captain Falcon. Before Pigma knew what hit him, he felt a raptor booster attack burn his face. He was instantly sent flying into the wall, but Captain Falcon was strangely smirking, standing in place.

"I'll show you a move that I've been practicing for days!" he confidently yelled.

A black fist popped out of the wall and punched Pigma in the stomach, sending him back at Falcon. Falcon charged another powerful Falcon punched and threw it into Pigma's leg, knocking it off. Pigma screamed as he was sent flying again to a different portion of the wall, blood splattering everywhere as his leg flew off.

But Captain Falcon wasn't over yet. Another fist appeared from the wall near Pigma and punched him, straight in the face! And again it sent him towards Captain Falcon, who used another quick Falcon Punch!

KABAM!

Captain Falcon accurately struck Pigma's head, beheading it cleanly off. This combo happened so fast that he couldn't say a word.

In fact, this combo happened in less than a second.

Captain Falcon crossed his arms as he kicked the disgustingly deformed body of Pigma away. He looked at the robot with the hole in its head that he created with a different Falcon Punch.

"That'll fucking teach you not to underestimate sexy guys like me! Guys that overcame their damn disadvantages! Think twice before you take advantage of sexy guys like me!" Falcon cried, posing. Before he knew what happened, a whirlwind of gray light absorbed him out of nowhere.

"What the fuck?" he yelled.


	41. Chapter 41: The Anti Tanker!

Hack: Jigglypuff's fight, I'm not sure if you'll enjoy it or not. Hopefully you will, I put a lot of effort into this chapter!

But what's going to be even better are the next few chapters between Fox and Falco! Look forward to it!

And enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 41: The Anti-Tanker!  
**

"So you have that fat plumber in prison right now?"

"Yep, after that fake robot of yours took him and that dinosaur out, we immediately dragged them into the prison, with the help of the Shadow Sirens and Doopliss."

"Yes… Soon revenge will be at my hands. Nobody can possibly face my new powers."

"Yeah, I know. You said that for the millionth time, and that you are over ten times more powerful than that robot of yours, Lord Grodus."

"I should not put these new powers to waste. The Endowment of Exigency, Metaknight called it? I feel much more running through me, I feel like I'm an official of the Ring of Darkness! Anyways, we must check on our prisoners. Gather the Shadow Sirens and Doopliss here!"

"Yes, sir! And POW, like that I'm gone!"

* * *

Panther immediately dashed towards Jigglypuff, swiping at her with all of his might and speed he has to spare. Jigglypuff continuously rolled backwards and sideways, unable to move her body around like Luigi and Captain Falcon could. She luckily escaped from Panther's shiny claws, although barely. 

Noticing her inability to dodge Panther for much longer, Jigglypuff activated the handy Agility ability (ha ha, rhyming). Her speed tripled as she sped around Panther, dodging every single attack fluently and reading Panther like a book.

"Not bad," said Panther, his rose still between his teeth. "You're quite fast, especially with that Agility."

"Not really, Captain Falcon is much faster than me with Agility," Jigglypuff replied. She threw her right arm at Panther's face with a powerful pound attack, striking it with supreme accuracy. Panther flew across the ground and fell, his face slightly swollen.

"You're quite powerful too, I give you that," said Panther, stroking his right cheek. Strangely, his cheek was glowing…

Jigglypuff stayed the silent pokemon she was, saying nothing as she dashed at Panther at frightening speeds. Panther swerved backwards to dodge another pound attack, only to hear the words, "_Mega Punch_!" emerge from Jigglypuff's mouth. A punch three times more powerful than pound was thrown at Panther's stomach, causing him to reel over in pain. Jigglypuff immediately took this chance to stand back and charge a familiar attack…

"_Flamethrower_!"

Like many of her fellow smashers could do, Jigglypuff released a snaking stream of fire across the room, aimed at Panther who stood up, staggering. He jumped to the side, but the flamethrower attack swerved around and struck him from behind, burning a hole through the back of his shirt. He howled as he felt the fire eat at the fur on his back and fell to the ground. He instantly stood up again, determined to not lose.

Fortunately, Jigglypuff had a couple new moves up her sleeves that she trained for. "You won't be able to dodge this attack, I guarantee you," she warned. "_Surf_!"

Jigglypuff suddenly started to ride on a humongous and dangerous wave of water, as if she was surfing on it. The towering wave carried her to the black ceiling and fell on every inch of the floor. Panther, who was on the floor, could not dodge it at all.

Panther coughed water and blood out from his lungs as Jigglypuff landed directly in front of him, prepared with her signature smasher move.

REST!

Jigglypuff's powerful rest attack blasted Panther against the wall, creating a large crack. Blood trickled down his head as he fell to the ground, his body slumped on the ground. His body made a quick twitch as he closed his eyes, next to unconscious.

"Next time, fight someone on your own level," said Jigglypuff as she started to walk away. "I wonder how the others are doing…"

"_I'll beat the shit outta anyone that hurts my Samus babe!" Captain Falcon cried._

_Samus glared at him and fired a super missile. Unfortunately, Luigi walked past Captain Falcon and took the super missile attack. Jigglypuff giggled as Fox rushed in._

"_What the hell happened here?" he asked._

"_I… misaimed," said Samus as Jigglypuff and Falcon laughed. Luigi shrugged off the blast, as he was completely covered in ashes._

Jigglypuff giggled at that recent memory in Samus's ship. She could never grow old of Captain Falcon hitting on Samus 24/7.

BOOM!

Jigglypuff felt a claw pierce through her entire body and saw Panther directly in front of her. He retracted his claw, smiling. Strangely, Jigglypuff did not feel like she was stabbed.

After a second, pain exploded everywhere in her body. Jigglypuff screamed as she experienced the most pain she ever felt in her entire life. She fell to the ground, crying and rolling around, hoping the pain would stopped.

"Did you guess what my ability is?" Panther asked, holding up his rose again. He was still staggering and burnt in the back, yet he still gave a smile that showed he was somehow in perfect fighting condition!

Jigglypuff shook her head, still crying.

"I'll tell you what. I can absorb any attack I want into my body. I take a lot of damage in the process, but I can collect attacks and gather them together until I want to release them. I am perfect for this ability because of my high endurance and tanking skills. I can take lots of damage until I go down, little pokemon. I am literally a walking, talking tank.

And that energy attack you took is about twice as powerful as your pound, mega punch, flamethrower, surf, and rest attack combined!

So everything you throw at me, you'll take it back double," Panther explained. "And I surely have more endurance than anyone in this planet, so nobody can defeat me with this strategy, as long as I remain standing."

Jigglypuff staggered, pain still ringing through her entire body. Immediately, she felt a singing burn on her back, her lungs filled with water, and her face swollen up in two different spots. A second later, she was blasted to a wall by an unknown force.

"I forgot…" said Panther. "After you take my attack, one minute later you'll feel a repeat of what I felt, so you'll feel a net total of _three_ times more pain than I absorb!"

"I… See…" Jigglypuff coughed, massaging her big face and spitting out water. "So since you knew I have the lowest stamina in the group, the team chose you to take me out with your counter attacks…"

"You're smart, I give you that," said Panther in a serious tone. "In fact, you're also very powerful and fast. You are, in fact, the second most powerful out of your little group. According to Wolf's calculations, you'll soon be the third."

"Why?"

Panther smirked. "You'll see why, if you live that is."

Panther dashed towards Jigglypuff and swiped at her several more times. With her fatigued body, Jigglypuff couldn't dodge any attacks at all, so she took the full blunt of the assault, feeling new cuts on every inch of her body.

Panther finally finished his assault, facing the now badly cut puffball lying on the ground. "Next time, fight someone on your own level… That would be true if I wasn't a level higher than yours!"

Jigglypuff stood up, though barely. "You…"

"Still not down? I guess I don't give your endurance the credit it deserves."

"That's... right," replied Jigglypuff. "_Rock Slide_!"

A shower of boulders fell on Panther, crushing several bones in his body. Every spot where he took a blow glowed at every second, indicating that he was absorbing the attack.

Jigglypuff stood in that same spot, preparing her final new ability. "I hope you enjoy being shocked… _Thunder_!"

Millions upon millions of lightning bolts fell from the ceiling, striking every inch that Jigglypuff targeted. Every time a bolt struck the ground, a booming noise was heard and the entire ground shook violently.

Unfortunately, Thunder was a very inaccurate attack, and only two bolts out of a million struck Panther. Luckily, two was more than enough to deal fatal damage to a normal human.

Panther stood up again, his body smoking. "Much more powerful than before… But do you realize that it's just going to hurt you more than it'll hurt me?"

"Not if I do this!" Jigglypuff used Double Team, creating nine other copies of herself.

"Oh? Clones? I wonder if that'll work…" commented Panther as he looked at the Jigglypuffs in amusement. It didn't take him long to notice that five of them were clinging onto him.

REST TIMES FIVE!

Panther's body did not explode under the power of this attack, but many of his bones did break. He coughed out gallons of blood as he was blasted into a wall. His body was stuck in the wall, dripping blood everywhere, yet glowing. He glared at the ten Jigglypuffs as he unplugged himself from the wall, walking unsteadily.

One Jigglypuff jumped up to him and used a powerful Mega Punch on his stomach, sending him reeling into another Jigglypuff. Panther was immediately crushed by the avalanche caused by Rock Slide. Another Jigglypuff landed on top of Panther, using a fierce drill kick into him.

Panther growled as he swiped at the Jigglypuff currently attacking him, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. With his quick speed, he ran around, destroying all of the clone Jigglypuffs until one was left.

"So there you are," said Panther, his claws shinier than ever. "Even with a powerful attack like that, you can't stop me."

"So you are," said Jigglypuff as she dashed towards Panther.

"Prepare for your demise, then!" cried Panther as he shot a familiar blue beam of energy. The energy beam pierced through Jigglypuff's body, destroying her.

And causing her to disappear into smoke?

"An opening!" the real Jigglypuff cried, appearing directly before Panther and prepared her flamethrower attack.

"I admit, a nice strategy, but…" Panther shot a blue beam again, giving Jigglypuff a taste of her own power. Jigglypuff screamed again as she felt the power of ten rests, two rock slides, and two mega punches, combined.

"I'm not that easy to fool. I purposely used a fake beam to destroy the last clone, so I wouldn't waste the energy absorbed."

Jigglypuff was suddenly blasted into the wall, feeling her face swollen up even more. Tears fell out of her eyes painfully as she struggled to stay conscious.

"Face it," said Panther. "There is no way you can defeat a tanker like me with those attacks."

_Those attacks… Tanker… Spekkio told me once…_ Jigglypuff thought.

"_If you're facing a tanker, Jigglypuff," explained Spekkio. "Then kill him indirectly! Cripple him with a status condition!"_

"_Like poison?" asked Jigglypuff._

"_No, simple poisoned won't do. It's too weak, and the tanker will most likely be powerful enough to resist it. No, what you need is…"_

Jigglypuff had a determined look on her face. _I'm not going to give up… Not now. I never tried using these attacks, and I doubt it'll work in the condition I'm in, but it's my only hope…_

Jigglypuff unplugged herself from the wall like Panther did and stood up, struggling.

"You're still conscious? I'm surprised," said Panther. "I admit, it's really painful, but I can resist it."

Jigglypuff closed her eyes, murmuring a few words.

_It's time to bring my abilities up a new level…_

Jigglypuff opened her eyes. A new energy of determination flamed through her as she dashed towards Panther extremely quickly.

"Agility again? You're getting rather predictable," said Panther.

"You want to tank like crazy?" asked Jigglypuff. "Then you can eat this! _Swords Dance_!"

_Please let this work…_

Six glowing swords surrounded the puffball, disappearing as quickly as they appeared. Jigglypuff's entire body glowed yellow and she threw a powerful Mega Punch.

KABOOM!

Panther's jaw almost broke into two as Jigglypuff's glowing fist rammed into his cheek. She immediately followed up with a powerful drill kick. She used a powerful head butt attack, ramming into Panther's stomach. As a finisher to her combo, she used her Mega Kick Attack. "What?" Panther gasped, coughing out even more gallons of blood. "You're attacks… so… powerful…"

"Swords Dance does that," explained Jigglypuff. _Thank god… Time for the next ability I never tried…_

Another Jigglypuff appeared behind Panther and cried, "_Toxic_!" A pile of violet sludge fell on top of Panther, poisoning his entire body rather badly.

"You're poisoning me?" asked Panther, grunting at the stinging pain spreading through his body. "You know very well that poisoning me won't do much."

"Well you want pain?" asked Jigglypuff. "You'll get it!" Five other Jigglypuffs attached themselves onto Panther.

"You think you'll pull that off again? Like I will!" Panther yelled, then he held his arm out to perform a spin attack, flinging away all Jigglypuffs.

Immediately, he felt something wrong. His body didn't move at all! He couldn't move his… poisoned legs? It was as if his body became stiff from the Toxic attack!

REST TIMES FIVE!

Panther screamed as his body almost exploded from the impact of the attack, yet it was glowing again. He stood in the same spot, glowering.

"So you made it so I… can't move…" said Panther.

"Obviously. Toxic is not your typical poisoning attack, it is ten times more powerful than any other poisoning condition," explained Jigglypuff.

"Why… That means I took lots of damage… You be prepared for a bit of pain…" Panther held his claws out and fired his blue beam again at Jigglypuff. With her crippled body, Jigglypuff couldn't move and had to take the entire hit.

"_There are two special moves that exist in your Pokemon world," said Spekkio._

"_Really? What are they, I'd think I'd know them," said Jigglypuff._

"_Well you know the difference between physical and special attacks. These particular abilities allow you to absorb the attack, yet release them back at the attacker with twice the power!"_

"_I know of those…"_

The blue beam was inches away from Jigglypuff's face…

"_Psychic attacks are the most difficult to master," explained Spekkio. "It's all about how powerful your mind is, and you can even recover yourself! But it'll take away much of your brain's energy, so you can't use it very often."_

"_Tell me about it," answered Jigglypuff._

Jigglypuff closed her eyes. _It's the only choice I have… I'm glad I only used physical attacks in this round._

The blue beam collided with her body, but not before Jigglypuff murmured two words that were unrecognizable and drowned out by Panther's laughing.

After the smoke cleared away, Jigglypuff felt the pain crash through her body, threatening to destroy her. It was almost too much, she almost wanted to die! She was immediately blasted into the wall again from the effects of her rest attacks and felt her body impaled by several invisible kicks and punches.

Panther stood up, though he was clearly tired. The Toxic attack was taking full effect, draining his energy away. But he accomplished his goal: He finished off Jigglypuff!

"Pick on someone your own level, puffball," said Panther as he placed his rose between his teeth again.

"_COUNTER!!!_" Jigglypuff cried. Panther's eyes widened as his body was immediately crushed, squirting blood everywhere.

"What… What happened?" Panther screamed.

What really happened was Jigglypuff returned twice the physical damage that she absorbed back at Panther, so Panther just felt a replay of Jigglypuff's combo on him! Except four times more powerful!

The pain was far too much. Panther's body fell limp and fell to the ground, lifeless. His eyes were still horrifically opened, as if he wanted to die.

All of Jigglypuff's bruises were instantly recovered somehow! Jigglypuff stood up without staggering, smiling.

What Jigglypuff also did was use Wish before the beam struck her…

_An ability that heals you in the near future…_

"Pick on someone your own level, Panther!" Jigglypuff cried, cherishing her victory. "Because I'm the Anti-Tanker!"

Suddenly, the room shone with white light. "What the…" Jigglypuff murmured, but she instantly disappeared from the unknown dark dimension.

* * *

"You've taught her well," said Gaspar, who had just observed Jigglypuff's fight with Spekkio. 

"It's nothing," Spekkio replied. "She's got lots of potential… Heck, after one year, she'd murder me in minutes if she trained. Her growth is insane. Every battle will push her towards learning another ability that will undoubtedly help her in the future.

By the way, where is Vivian? I haven't seen her since last week…"

"Ah, Vivian said that she was leaving to help a friend of hers in Mushroom Kingdom. She won't be back for a while, I assure you…" answered Gaspar.


	42. Chapter 42: Shined Blind

Hack: This is the start of the huge, depressing mood of the entire story, just warning you. So be prepared, in case you start feeling depressed too after reading the end of this chapter, and future chapters too. Trust me, the next few chapters will be much more depressing and dark.

By the way, **I do not own any rights to the cool chapter title**, it's taken from the title of the combo video of Fox, which is called Shined Blind! So yeah, don't sue or anything, because it's not my title.

Yeah. I'm paranoid like that.

But I digress. Anyways, this is the biggest fight I'm working on, it'll be longer than one chapter. I think it'll be my favorite and most fun to write yet, but it'll also take a while write the entire fight, so expect possible long delays for the next few chapters. Sorry, but I promise it'll be worth it!

This chapter is also over half of the action bulk of the fight, so you better enjoy the first chapter of the fight!

* * *

**Chapter 42: Shined Blind**

It was a showdown. Plain and simple. What kind of showdown? Between two friends in a fight to finally determine who is stronger in the end.

Both Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi stood at opposite ends of the room, which was actually more like on top of a ship. Concrete walls bordered the ship, except for a couple portions here and there. Around the ship was endless dark voids, as if they were in space… A darker space.

"Are you ready?" asked Falco.

"Ready as you are," replied Fox.

A lightning bolt was seen in the skies, creating a thundering noise. The moment the two space animals heard it, they immediately dashed towards each other, pulling out their blasters, and diving towards each other. It was as if motion slowed down, both Fox and Falco fiercely fired their blasters at each other, yet each and every shot missed.

The moment they both landed, they were standing right before each other's eyes. Fox was faster, beginning his assault with his speedy reflector attack. Electricity flowed through Falco's body as he slid across the ground a small distance, temporarily stunned. Fox short hopped into the air and pounded a drill kick into Falco's body, who blocked the attack with his elbows.

Falco immediately jumped back to widen the distance between himself and Fox, firing several shots from his blaster. Fox crouched low, causing the blaster shots to fly overhead harmlessly. He immediately pulled out his own blaster and fired away at Falco.

…But Falco was nowhere to be seen! Fox looked around frantically, looking for any signs of the blue bird. He whirled around just to see Falco dashing up to him, holding his right leg out with a sex kick.

BAM!

Falco's right foot struck Fox's chin, pushing him backwards slightly. Falco immediately landed and jumped again, spinning his legs around diagonally upward in a whirlwind of quick kicks. Falco's attack dealt several blows to Fox's stomach, repeatedly kicking the wind out of him.

The moment Falco landed, he was directly next to Fox, who was still recovering from Falco's whirlwind kick attack. Falco immediately performed a powerful ground flip kick, sending Fox flying vertically into the air. He pulled out his blaster again and fired, burning through Fox's right arm and leg.

Fox had no time to cry in pain, because Falco was directly above him, preparing a powerful one-strike drill kick. Falco's attack struck cleanly on Fox's back, sending him flying back into the ground. Falco dropped himself down towards the ground at frightening speeds, using another drill kick on Fox again. Fox coughed blood out of his mouth as he felt the impact threatening to break his spine in half.

"Either you're a lot weaker, or I'm a lot stronger," said Falco. Fox only replied with a grunt, standing back on his feet.

"I'd say both, you're not up to your usual reflexes," said Falco.

"Damn straight," Fox suddenly replied as he dashed towards Falco, preparing his own powerful flip kick.

ZOOM!

A transparent blue image of Falco struck Fox as Falco appeared directly behind Fox, murmuring, "Falco Phantasm…" Fox cried in pain as he collided with the ground, lying down in a vulnerable position again.

Falco smirked. "What's wrong? You're not putting up a fight at all. I'd expect much more than you, someone that I've known for years."

Fox stood up, staggering in pain. "Well if you didn't notice, it's a little hard to fight someone that you've been friends with for a while."

"Yeah… It's more like, 'Hey Einstein! I'm not on your side!'"

Fox smiled. "I remember that. I literally laughed out loud every time I accidentally hit you. Half the time you said that motto."

Falco smiled as well. "Good memories, good memories… too bad it had to come down to this because of your decisions."

Fox cleared his throat. "A-hem?"

"…And I'm somewhat at fault too. But I digress. You better remember that I'm not holding anything back at all," Falco declared, pointing his blaster at Fox. "And I'm a lot stronger than back at Kanto. If you don't give it your all…

You're definitely going to die."

"That's great," replied Fox, taking out his staff. "I hope you won't mind if I use this weapon then, since I'm giving it my all?"

"Try me."

Falco dashed towards Fox, preparing another powerful flip kick. Fox immediately swung his staff horizontally, blocking Falco's attack and cutting through his arms.

Or it should have blocked and cut. Falco, predicting this, wavedashed backwards while still facing Fox to barely avoid the attack. He quickly wavedashed forwards towards Fox, within range of his flip kick.

With the momentum of his swing from before, Fox whirled around, swinging his staff in a circle horizontally, much like Link's sword spin attack.

Unfortunately, Falco psyched him out again. He crouched low, directly below the staff. He spun around once, slashing Fox's feet with his sharp tail. For the millionth time, Fox fell on the ground, unable to react.

Falco swept his tail around again, sending Fox flying up into the air. He jumped up to continue his combo on Fox, preparing a drill kick. Fox held his staff upwards to block the attack, but…

Falco faked him out for the third time in less than a minute. Rather than jumping above Fox, he controlled his jump to stay directly below Fox, using his vertical flip kick attack.

KA-BAM!

Fox was struck twice, once by the tail and again by both of Falco's legs. The attack sent him higher up again, knocking the wind out of him. Unable to reach Fox's altitude, Falco landed on the ground to catch his breath.

SHING!

Fox literally threw his staff at Falco, aimed directly at Falco's face! The staff spun through the air like a thrown drill at the speed of light. However, with his amazing reflexes, Falco turned on his reflector to deflect it back at Fox.

He turned it off to look back up at Fox, who was smirking as he caught his staff flawlessly. In his other hand was a blaster. Before Falco knew what happened, two green blaster shots struck his chest, slightly singing him.

Falco looked up again to see a furry leg dropping itself directly on his face, knocking him back further. Fox had used his own sex kick while falling from the air.

_It's time to make a comeback…_

Fox drew his staff and hacked away at Falco, who was continuously wavedashing backwards to avoid the attack, yet still facing Fox. Fox continued to make steps towards Falco, forcing the bird to move backwards and lose the offensive side of the battle.

After one full minute of dodging and wavedashing backwards, Falco was finally cornered with a wall facing his back. Fox took his opportunity to throw his staff forward, forcing Falco to roll away.

Falco, the smart bird he was, rolled between Fox's legs and stood up facing Fox's back centimeters away.

"You just got owned," said Fox. He dropped down to his thighs in a split, shooting his legs from both in front and behind him. The leg behind him obviously struck Falco's legs, tripping him in the process. Fox stood up again and lifted his left leg behind him without looking back, knocking Falco upwards into the air. He jumped up and shot his right leg behind him in mid-air, sending Falco flying into the walls at the other side of the area.

Unfortunately for Falco, there was no wall in the area he was sent flying in. By the time he regained control of himself, he was several feet below the edge of the skyscraper of the plane. He charged his body with fire, initiating his Fire Bird attack to recover.

Fox suddenly appeared directly on top of him, turning on his reflector! Before Falco knew what hit him, his recovery move was disabled as the reflector knocked him lightly at a downward angle. Fox swiftly recovered with his own Fire Fox attack and looked down at Falco.

Falco immediately used his Falco Phantasm attack to grab the side of the plane. He kicked off of the wall and charged his Fire Bird attack again to recover.

Fox jumped off for the second time, preparing to spike Falco with his reflector, but Falco was ready. The moment Fox landed on Falco, the bird grabbed the fox and literally _threw_ him downwards, then finally recovered with his Fire Bird. Fox recovered from the throw quite quickly and swiftly used his Fire Fox to recover, barely grabbing the edge next to Falco.

"That was pretty rough," said Falco. "I'm glad you're finally giving me a moderate challenge."

Fox grinned. "You want me to give you a real challenge? Then I'll give you one!"

Before Falco could respond, Fox climbed back on the stage quickly. He slid across it, wavedashing until he was crouching below Falco. He turned on his reflector to stun and push Falco backwards a bit.

Immediately, Fox wavedashed out of his reflector, finding himself right next to Falco. He turned on his reflector again, causing Falco to be knocked backwards and be stunned _again_!

"Argh! What the fuck?" Falco yelled as Fox followed his third wavedash with his third reflector attack. Fox continued his infinite combo, panting as wavedashing took lots of stamina, especially at the speed he was going at.

Eventually, Falco struck the wall, stuck there. He smirked, though painfully. "You can't continue now, I'll just…"

Fox used his reflector again, stunning Falco and keeping him standing by the wall! Fox wavedashed in place (or just jumped and immediately landed without moving anywhere) and used his reflector again! He performed this maneuver again and again, repeating it. The speed was unbelievable, Fox was zapping Falco with his reflector at least four times per second! The pain continued to build up infinitely, eventually causing Falco to scream and yell in pain as if he was in hell.

Fox broke his infinite combo by accidentally jumping too high. Falco took this advantage to slowly roll to the side, wincing at the pain. He tripped over his own foot and landed on his back, bleeding everywhere.

"That was… damn cheap…" murmured Falco.

"You're the second person ever to experience my shine combo, the first to get shined into the wall," explained Fox. "As far as I know, there's no way out of it until I break it on accident."

Falco stood up, staggering again. "I'm not going to… lose… you know that…"

"I know, we're both determined, cocky idiots. I'm pretty sure that both of us will push ourselves to our limits, just to beat each other."

"You're psychic…" Falco commented. _You've got your own shine combo…_

_Now it's time for mine…_

Falco somehow found the stamina to use a Falco Phantasm, catching Fox off guard. Falco teleported directly behind Fox, standing over him as he was lying on the ground. Falco jumped on Fox and activated his own reflector.

You see, while Fox's reflector stuns and sends people sliding to the side on the ground and downwards in the air, Falco's reflector sends people directly upwards, also stunning for a long time.

Consequently, Fox's body was knocked lightly into the air, stunned and unable to react. Falco jumped high enough to be directly above Fox and used his one-hit drill kick, knocking Fox directly back into the ground. However, Falco dropped himself down to the ground so fast that he landed at the same time as Fox fell on the ground.

And he landed directly next to Fox's stunned body. He used his reflector again to knock Fox into the air, then he jumped directly above Fox and used his drill kick yet again! He dropped down next to Fox and continued his reflector to drill kick to reflector to drill kick combo. Fox coughed out blood everywhere as he grunted in pain, unable to react. The speed was unbelievable, Falco was zapping and pounding Fox with his reflector and drill kick combos, at least two times per second! (as in, reflector-drill kick two times in a second)

_Directional Influence… I can stop his combo with it._ Fox thought.

The thirty-first time Falco sent Fox into the air again with his reflector, Fox shifted his weight away from Falco, causing him to fly at a low altitude and away from Falco.

_Yes! I'm away, your combo isn't so infinite now, is it?_

Unfortunately, Fox was wrong. Falco wavedashed twice towards Fox's direction, finding himself directly underneath Fox, who was still stunned from the reflector. He short hopped into the air, directly beside Fox, and pounded him with his drill kick once again! Both space animals landed on the ground at the same time, but Falco was not going to stop his combo. He shined Fox again, who was continuously trying to shift his weight to move himself away from Falco, but it didn't give him desirable results; Falco continued his combo.

Or maybe it did give him desirable results. The sixty-eighth time Falco zapped Fox, both were near the edge. Fox moved himself away from the stage, smirking.

"Can't get… me… now, can… you?" said Fox. "You're combo… broken…"

Falco looked down at Fox, who was regaining control over his body. He remembered Wolf's words.

_Wolf smirked as he walked up to Falco. "And I have special instructions for you. You are not to fucking kill your own target, only to disarm him and capture him."_

Falco jumped off of the stage, using his drill kick to spike Fox down even further and ignoring Wolf's words.

"_You whelp, if you kill my target, you're in big trouble! You're going to be fucking dead if you do!" screamed Wolf._

Fox grunted as he was sent farther away from the plane. Recovery started to seem impossible as Falco smiled, preparing to drop down even farther to spike Fox _again_!

"You idiot!" Fox cried, coughing. "You… want us both… dead?"

Falco ignored Fox as he spiked Fox for the second time in the air, and preparing his drill kick again.

He didn't care if Wolf didn't want him to kill Fox, all he wanted was to kill Fox anyways. It didn't matter if Falco died killing Fox.

_I'm already dead in my mind…_


	43. Chapter 43: Rejection

Hack: I was expecting to make this fight three chapters long, but it ended up ending on this chapter, unfortunately. Next chapter will be a huge turning point, you'll know when you read the ending of this chapter!

But there's going to be more to it. A LOT more. Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 43: Rejection**

Lord Crump was one of the commanders of the X-Nauts under Grodus, the main leader of the organization. He and Grodus were enemies with Mario in his quest to open the thousand-year door with the seven crystal stars, because the X-Nauts desired the treasure and power behind the door. Needless to say, Mario successfully stopped them.

Clearly, the X-Nauts wanted revenge.

Like all X-Nauts, Lord Crump had a short, plump, egg-shaped body (including the head) and wore opaque glasses that nobody but the X-Nauts could see through. His head had a wide, purple bandana on it and he wore a red cape.

Lord Crump opened the prison doors in the X-Nauts base with his keys, entering the prison chamber where Mario and Yoshi should be held in.

"Buh-huh-huh-huh… This is going to be great, an execution for that stupid plumber. Beldam! Marilyn! Are you ready?" said Lord Crump.

Two purple figures appeared out from the shadowy floor. "I can't believe I'm doing this…" said Beldam, tilting her crooked yellow hat.

"Oogg…." Marilyn groaned arbitrarily.

"It's your fault that the Shadow Queen betrayed us!" said Lord Crump. "You Shadow Sirens are going to be working for us for a while… Buh-huh-huh!"

Just then, Crump just noticed something wrong.

Both Mario and Yoshi were not in their prison cells!

* * *

_This is how I'm going to end it… This proves I'm more powerful… I don't care if I die._

_In fact, if I don't die… I don't know what I'm going to do about my life…_

_I'm so confused…_

Falco struck Fox with his fourth powerful drill-kick, making return to the ship impossible for the both of them. Falco finally stopped attacking, looking satisfied with himself as the two friends fell through the abyss.

"This is it, Fox! We're both going to die… Falling down and into nowhere at all," said Falco.

Fox was in a desperate situation. _No… I am **not** going to die like this. I am not going to be beaten by my rival!_

_I am not going to let Falco die either! I don't know why he's doing this… I don't know what happened._

_Is it all… my fault?_

A light bulb lit up in his head as Fox took out his staff in an instant. He pointed it at the ship which was rapidly growing smaller from his sight, grabbed Falco's arm, and released the power in his staff. A ball of energy appeared at the tip of the staff facing away from the ship. Suddenly, the ball of energy exploded, sending Fox (carrying Falco) all the way back up to the plane.

Fox and Falco landed on their backs on the surface, panting. "What the fuck were you trying to do?" Fox yelled, facing Falco. "You were trying to get the **both** of us killed!"

"Yes…" Falco coughed, still gasping for air. "I was… trying to get both… of us killed…" He stood up, still breathing heavily and faced Fox.

"What are you trying to do? Is it still because of you getting kicked off?" Fox asked. "Just tell me. I won't get angry."

"…Yeah. But that's not all, but…"

_Fuck… I already said too much…_

"Not all?"

Falco ran towards Fox, blindly preparing a slide attack. Fox read his mind and jumped over Falco, who swept below him. Fox swerved around and swing his staff, scratching over Falco's feathery back.

Fox ran towards Falco, who was trying to get on his feet again, and prepared to perform his infinite shine combo again!

Fox turned on his reflector and… nothing happened.

Literally. Nothing happened.

Fox wavedashed several times backwards to avoid Falco's kicks and took a look at his reflector device; it was completely burnt out.

_Figures… I'll have to get a new one from Slippy._

His heart suddenly felt like an icy dagger stabbed through it. Mentioning Slippy in his mind only reminded him more of the pain that he inflicted upon his team.

A thought echoed in his mind.

_It's all your fault…_

Fox felt Falco's right knee strike his stomach, blowing the wind out of him. Falco immediately followed up with a drill kick attack, then started his unique infinite shine combo of drill kicks and reflector attacks again.

"_Psst! Hey Fox!" A twelve-year old Falco leaned over to a twelve-year old Fox, watching the academy teacher. "What's the answer to number fourteen b?"_

_Fox shrugged. "I got choice D, it's because that…" _

_"Talking in the middle of the test?" the teacher scolded, eyeing both Fox and Falco. "Detention for the two of you."_

_"__What? I wasn't asking Fox about the test, it was about…"_

"_Excuse me, I was the one cheating," said Fox, raising his hand._

"_What… What are you... How ironic! The son of James McCloud, cheating! Yes, this should be reported to your chief!"_

Fox felt his body zapped by Falco's reflector as he hopelessly tried to move his body out of the way to stop Falco's combo.

_"Falco! What are you doing here?" Fox asked, writing several lines on the board after school in detention._

"_Dude! What were you trying to do, covering up for me?" Falco responded with another question. "I'm here to take my punishment, what I've done wrong on that test."_

"_No, just get out of here. I don't want you…"_

"_Fine. We'll do it together then." Falco picked up a piece of chalk and started to write other lines on the other board in the classroom._

A teardrop fell from Fox's eye, and Falco was observant enough to notice this. He immediately halted his combo, allowing Fox's body to be flung away and slide across the ground.

"What are you doing?" asked Falco. "Just what the fuck are you doing?"

"We're both been friends for our entire life…" replied Fox, standing up. "I'm not going to kill you. No way will I ever do that."

"_In the last division of the cadet group," a dog announced in an auditorium filled with youths. "We have Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Bill Grey, and…"_

"_Yes!" both Fox and Falco exclaimed simultaneously, giving each other a swift high five._

"..._Due to your outstanding exam scores," the dog continued. "I believe that it'd be fit for you four to be put into an official team! All outstanding scores, and perfect for Mr. McCloud and Mr. Lombardi! Congratulations!"_

_Both Fox and Falco were speechless. "Score!" they both cried, giving each other high fives again._

"I only thought that we had to follow the rules…" Fox continued.

"No, you're fucking wrong," Falco replied. "We should go by what we believe in. I watched a television show that I really enjoyed in my teenage years, it was something about anime ninjas or something. I learned a saying there that really showed me the light."

"What is it?" asked Fox.

"He said… 'Those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders are lower than garbage. However, those who do not care for and support their fellows are even lower than that.'

And… I memorized that because I believe in it. It really touched me."

"Falco… I understand."

"No you don't. You don't understand any fucking thing in my life. Nobody does."

"Falco… but…"

Falco fired his blaster, narrowly missing Fox's neck. "I don't care if you die."

"But Falco… Our friendship… Does it mean nothing to you?"

"What do you expect me to say after I asked that exact fucking question to you when you kicked me off?"

"…No."

"Exactly."

Falco threw his legs forward at Fox, who rolled out of the way, but barely. Falco stood up and quickly whirled around, firing his blaster. Fox deflected each and every shot with his staff, slowly approaching Falco. Noticing this, Falco took several steps back, continuing to fire.

"Why won't you just die already?" Falco yelled.

"Because I refuse to. I will not die yet. I have a mission to fulfill."

"The Endowment of Exigency?"

"No. My mission… to save Corneria."

Fox disappeared. A blue illusion of him struck Falco, sending him up into the air. Fox had used his Fox Illusion attack.

Fox immediately jumped up and used his mid-air flip kick attack, sending Falco flying upwards. He used it again at the same time that Falco countered with his powerful drill kick.

BOOM!

The powerful force of the two attacks collided, canceling each other out and sending the two space animals flying in opposite directions.

"I'm not going to lose!" Fox yelled, getting back on his feet and charging at Falco, who was doing the same.

_I'm going to beat you to make you understand… I'm not going to let you die. I'm going to bring you back to the piloting that you love so much…_

_Back into the Starfox Team… I promise._

Falco furiously fired his blaster at Fox, gritting his teeth. Fox, ignoring the shots scorching him, continued to charge at Falco.

_"Fox! Get the guys to the rear!" Falco cried, shooting down ships while at the same time avoiding Leon from behind._

_"You might as well give up now," said Leon, barely scorching Falco's Arwing's wing._

_"Get the fuck away from him!" Fox yelled, firing a nova bomb at Leon. It mostly missed, only scorching part of Leon's wing off._

_"He can take care of himself, punk! For now, why don't you face me!" said Wolf, trailing Fox from behind. Fox immediately __pulled off a vertical loop, accurately shooting Leon down who was miles away. Wolf flew below Fox, muttering, "What the heck?"_

_Fox took this opportunity to fire another bomb, which fully connected. Wolf's ship entirely exploded, leaving debris behind._

_"Fox, thanks!" said Falco. "I'd hate to show you such bad piloting skills…"_

_"Heh… no problem!"_

Fox was directly in front of Falco and threw his staff through Falco's shoulder, emerging from Falco's back.

"Ugh…" Falco groaned as Fox pulled his staff away, dripping with red blood. Falco held his punctured wound with his right hand, glaring at Fox.

"You don't understand…" Falco started. "Nobody accepts my beliefs. Nobody accepts me for who I am."

"You're forgetting something! Me!" Fox replied, kicking Falco in the chest and knocking him down to the ground. Falco immediately retaliated by shooting his blaster into Fox's cheek, creating a huge burn mark. Fox flinched as he held his burn mark in pain, but he refused to cry out in pain.

"I'll follow you everywhere you go now!" said Fox. "Everywhere! No matter what! I'll follow you and accept your beliefs!"

"_Every battle counts. We have to do everything we can to win!" said Fox. Falco closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. He opened his eyes._

"_If that's the case, I'll be with you at all times."_

"_What?"_

"_You're my leader. I'll follow you and do whatever you order me to."_

_Fox smiled. "Fine. But remember that we're still rivals and friends."_

"I'm not going to kill you," said Fox. "I don't want you to die."

Falco kicked Fox away and dashed towards him. _I don't understand… My life is one big misconception…_

"You're lying. I can tell. You don't give a shit about me, just like I don't care about you!" yelled Falco.

_Fox appeared between Falco and Scizor, taking the blow. He felt two deep cuts in his chest, blood spurting out everywhere._

_Falco finally opened his eyes again. "…Fox?" He saw Fox right in front of him, taking the blow for him._

"_Fox! No!"_

_Fox fell to the ground, right in front of Falco. Ignoring his insane headache and broken bones, he grabbed Fox._

"_Fox! What the fuck were you thinking?"_

"…_It's all for… Our friends…" he murmured._

_"No! I can't face these two alone! I need you! Get up, you idiot!"_

"Who's lying again?" asked Fox, staggering. "Remember the time we fought Scizor and Skarmory in Kanto? We look for each other all the time."

"I'm not the same Falco you knew. I've changed, if you couldn't tell."

"Of course I could tell. But I know the old Falco is trapped somewhere in there. Falco… I just wanted to say…

I'm sorry."

"No! Why are you sorry? You don't care!" Falco screamed, jumping at Fox to continue his assault.

Fox deflected every attack with his staff, a stern expression of determination clearly evident in his face. He found an opening through Falco's assault and threw his right leg forward, shoved into Falco's stomach. Falco coughed as he staggered, walking backwards.

_Are you sure this is what you want, Falco? You seriously want to kill me?_

_Because… You know you can't survive without me. Heck, we can't survive without each other, our lives practically depended on each other._

Fox's knees were on top of Falco's chest, pointing the sharp end of his staff at Falco's neck.

"Looks like I win again," said Fox, smirking.

"You idiot…" replied Falco. "What do you care… I'm just going to kill you and be done with…"

Fox interrupted Falco by whacking his staff at Falco's limbs, stunning him for a couple minutes. "Sorry, Falco… This is the only way for me to win without getting either of us killed."

Fox got off of Falco and looked at him. Falco struggled to get back on his feet, but his legs wouldn't budge.

"…Are you insane?" asked Falco. "There's no way you can understand me. No one understands the pain that I feel all the time…

Being rejected all the time…

You know, before you kicked me off of the team," Falco continued. "My beliefs were rejected by everyone else: Bill, Pepper, and more. So the only people I could count on are the members of the Starfox Team and Katt."

"…Go on," Fox said.

"The moment you kicked me off, I knew there was no hope for me in the world. I was kicked out of the Corneria defense army, so I couldn't get with Katt. There was only one more person that had a chance, even slim, to be accepted in.

That was Starwolf.

But now they rejected me… Honestly… I wanted to kill you. All the time. I didn't know why, it's probably because of the anger in me."

Falco got back on his feet, staggering. Fox got into a defensive stance, but Falco made no move to attack.

"They didn't want me to kill you… I don't know why. I finally cracked up. I was going to betray them and kill you by fighting you on here."

Fox shook his head. "Falco… I didn't mean it. I was blinded by the rules when I kicked you off… It's all my fault. I should've just let it go."

"It's okay. I've made up my mind."

"About what?"

Falco grinned, walking to the side. "Everything. Nobody on this planet… No, nobody in this _universe_ gives a crap about me." He placed his hand on a wall, looking at Fox.

"But then Fox… I have to thank you."

"What are you talking about?" asked Fox.

"…For being there for me for most of my life."

_Andross's mouth turned into a wide black hole, slowly sucking in Fox's ship._

_"Shit! I can't get out!" Fox cried, desperately attempting to barrel roll out of the way. "And I have nothing to attack him with!"_

_BOOM!_

_There was a red nova explosion on Andross's mouth, causing him to close his mouth as he groaned in pain. "What the hell?" Andross cried. Another Arwing flew by, firing several blaster shots at Andross's floating face._

_"Missed me?" asked Falco. "You owe me one for that, Fox."_

_"Falco!" Fox looked relieved, as he didn't see his friend for years._

_"Been to Venom, then Corneria… I've been looking all over for you, man! Now trying to save Dinosaur Planet? You're always busy!"_

_"Thanks… Let's beat Andross together!"_

_"All right!"_

"Falco, I should say the same for you," said Fox.

"Fox… I know I'm not going to see the Starfox Team again, and I know they'll miss me. And I never got the chance to see Katt after all these years. Tell the team that I miss them."

"Wait, how come you're not seeing them again?" asked Fox, taking a step forward towards Falco, but Falco shot a laser at the ground in front of Fox's feet, stopping him from moving.

"And tell Katt that I loved her," said Falco. "My life… Was a big fat rejection."

Falco suddenly let go of the wall, falling off of the plane. It took a second for Fox to realize what Falco just did.

"FALCO!!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING???" Fox yelled, running towards Falco. The moment he reached the edge, however, Falco was too far away from the plane for Fox to save him.

_I'm doing you a big favor, you asshole… _Falco thought. _You can't get out of here until I'm dead. And I'm doing myself a big favor…_

_I'm better off dead…_

Fox reached his hand out on the edge of the plane to reach out for Falco, but Falco was already out of sight.

"**FALCO!!!!**"


	44. Chapter 44: A Team Torn Apart

Hack: Here it is… The Big climax of the story. The one that I have been planning to stretch out. You'll be in for a surprise… Enjoy it.

And don't worry, I haven't been rushing. I've just had almost nonexistent homework recently because of the first quarter of the school year ending. Therefore, I have lots of free time! And working on my Endowment of Exigency project is one of my hobbies!

I'd also really appreciate it if you didn't spoil what happens in this chapter in your reviews... Not to be bitter or anything, but in case anyone who didn't read this yet checks the reviews... Yeah.

* * *

**Chapter 44: A Team Torn Apart**

Fox kneeled down. "No… No… No fucking way…" he muttered under his breath. "He can't be… Why the fuck… Why…"

_It's all your fault that Falco killed himself… Falco even admitted it. It set him off when you rejected him._

Fox grabbed his own head, banging it against the wall and tears flying out. He screamed until his voice was completely rasp.

"**ARGH!!!**"

A white light engulfed him, signifying that Falco was finally dead.

* * *

"I have to ask you one question, Vivian… Why are you here?" Mario asked while running from the 'hidden' X-Naut base. 

"Because I knew you were in trouble… Grodus is back again," Vivian replied.

Yoshi rolled his eyes as he carried Mario on his back. "Naw, really?"

Vivian ignored Yoshi's sarcastic comment. "But we have to get to Peach's castle right now. Two of our friends from Rogueport are already there, and we need to get together as soon as possible."

Mario took a well educated guess as to why. "Obviously because we're stronger together."

"Exactly. I sent Goombella and Captain Bobbery to the castle, the others we couldn't bring over because they're so busy with their lives."

"Looks like we've got a lot on our hands…" said Mario. _It'd also be great if Luigi got back here… There's too much that I've been hiding from him._

_No, the entire kingdom._

Mario, Yoshi, and Vivian arrived at Peach's castle through the dark storm, seeing two unexpected yet welcomed visitors in front of the entrance door.

"Link? Ganondorf? What are you two doing here?" Mario asked.

"…That's _YOUNG_ Link, Mario!" Young Link angrily replied. "But just call me Link, elder me is in Hyrule, busy rebuilding it."

* * *

"Where the hell is Wolf?" Luigi asked to himself. "I don't see any way out of this room other than the way back, and…" 

BAM!

POOF!

SLAM!

Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Fox all fell on top of Luigi in that order, creating yet another pile of smashers!

"Damn that Pigma… Such a damn coward…" Falcon angrily muttered. Then he finally noticed the mass on top of him. He instantly jumped off to allow the two others on top of him to fall… On top of Luigi.

Luigi groaned in pain. "Get the hell off of me, will ya?"

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Jigglypuff gasped, jumping off of Luigi. Fox followed suit, though he didn't seem very energetic about it.

"That's the _fourth_ time it happened in this quest! Next time, I'm burning the first person on top of me into a crisp!" Luigi angrily scolded.

"Hey, it's not my fault," said Falcon. "Blame it on the author, he thinks it's really funny. I honestly don't."

Oh really? Just because it's getting repetitive?

Falcon nodded with confidence. "Of course!"

KZAP!

A lightning bolt fell out of nowhere and zapped Falcon, causing lots of pain in his body. He instantly recovered through my author powers.

"…Ow."

Next time, I won't be so easy. Now that my humorous mood is finished, time to go back to the dark mood of the fic!

"Where is Samus anyways?" Jigglypuff asked. "If we all finished defeating our enemies, then she should be finished too…"

"I'm not sure… Who else in the Starwolf team is there anyways? Who did you guys fight?" asked Luigi as he stood up. Pain shot through his foot as he stupidly forgot about his impaled foot. "Shit!"

"What the fuck happened?" Falcon cried, running to Luigi to observe his foot. "Looks like a sword wound to me."

"Leon's sword, really. That fight took a lot out of me…" Luigi groaned.

"Well Pigma was a damn coward. He just stayed in his machine the whole time, exposing my weaknesses. Too bad the gals weren't there to see me pwn him." Falcon turned to Jigglypuff and Fox. "Who did you guys fight?"

"Panther," Jigglypuff simply said.

Fox said nothing as he simply looked at the ground.

"Fox? Yo, Fox?" Falcon waved his hand in front of Fox's face, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I think it's a good idea to leave him alone…" Luigi advised.

"Did you fight Wolf?" No answer. "Um… who else?"

Fox blew up. "Yes, I fought Falco! He fucking killed himself at the end, and it's all because of me that he committed suicide! You happy I'm answering you now? HUH?"

Falcon took a step back. "Whoa, easy there. Calm down, this isn't the time to get all angry."

"EASY FOR YOU TO TELL ME TO FUCKING CALM DOWN. YOU DON'T FUCKING UNDERSTAND, TRY WALKING IN MY FOOTSTEPS INSTEAD! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT KILLING YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND AT ALL AND…"

Falcon's face gave a nasty curl. He gave a fierce fiery punch at Fox's face. He instantly grabbed Fox by the collar, facing him face to face. "What's that you said about not understanding?" he asked. "I killed my own best friend in Mute City and…"

Captain Falcon immediately let go of Fox. Luigi and Jigglypuff look at the two in disbelief at what just happened.

"Captain Falcon…" said Luigi. "Are you okay?"

Fox glared at Falcon and looked like he was ready to jump at him. "Fox… Please calm down," Jigglypuff said, giving him a peaceful look.

"Pfft, yeah right you fucking asshole."

"Fox!"

Fox jumped at Jigglypuff to attack her, but Luigi released an electrical beam between the two to stop Fox.

"That's enough!" he yelled. "Fox, I don't know what got into you, but if you're going to keep attacking our group like that, I'll have no choice but to take you out!

Yes, none of us have walked in your path before, killing our best friend. I admit that. But that does **not** give you an excuse to jump at everyone who cares about you!"

Fox stopped. _Cares about me…_

_That's what caused Falco to kill himself… He felt that nobody cared about him._

_And I acted like I didn't care about him when I kicked him off… It's all my fault._

_Yes, it's all your fault, Fox!_

Luigi calmed down. "Fox… Please, just calm down at least for now. You can get angry all you want after we're done here. Just suppress it for the moment. I understand the fact that we don't understand your situation, Fox…

But believe me, we've all went through bad times. I've went through many myself because of a death of a friend. Is this the first time it happened to you, Fox?"

Fox lowered his head down in shame. _…I have to admit, it is…_

Luigi nodded, reading his mind. "I understand that you've lost a friend, but now is not the time for mourning. We have time for that… After we take out Wolf."

"Yeah… sorry about that…" said Fox. "I guess I… lost control… Can you forgive me?"

Luigi and Jigglypuff nodded. "Of course!" Fortunately for Jigglypuff, only Captain Falcon knew of her pain.

Speaking of Captain Falcon, he started to sulk a bit. _My past… Damn, it always gets me into my emotional side whenever I think about **that** damn incident…_

"Where IS Samus anyways?" asked Fox. "We've killed Pigma, Panther, Leon, and…"

There was a silence. "…Besides Falco, there isn't anyone else except… Wolf…" said Luigi.

"SHIT!!! Samus is so fucking screwed then!" Falcon cried.

"Oh I don't think you'll have to worry about her much…" Fox most certainly did not say.

Three unsuspecting figures appeared at the door: Black Shadow, Metaknight, and Alex.

"I heard about the Starwolf batallion taken out by the smashers, so I decided to gather the other two to check up on them," said Black Shadow. "Seems that Wolf has some pretty weak underdogs…"

Alex flexed his hands. "We've got some victims here, I'm dying to kill some weaklings here."

Metaknight nodded, drawing his sword. "And I'm dying for a rematch here…"

Wolf suddenly emerged from the door of the unknown dimension.

"Wolf!" Falcon yelled. "Where is Samus?"

Wolf smiled. "I believe that she's been…"

"Taken care of?" asked Black Shadow.

"Yes."

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Falcon screamed as he began to dash towards Wolf with Falcon Dash, leaving a stream of fire behind. Captain Falcon threw his fist at Wolf, who suddenly disappeared, leaving his arm in the steel wall.

CLANG!

The clanging noise was enough to set the smashers and the villains off. Metaknight dashed at Fox and engaged in a close-range one-on-one sword combat again. Luigi fired a beam of lightning at Alex, who countered with a wall of ice. Jigglypuff used Double Team and teamed up against Black Shadow, who was simply smirking.

"Found a way to get through my defense?" Black Shadow asked as he turned into dark particles again.

Unfortunately, Jigglypuff didn't. Her ten different pound attacks flew through the dark particles, not harming Black Shadow at all. She crouched flat on the ground, narrowly avoiding a huge dark beam of energy.

Luigi ran towards Alex, utilizing his new lightning sword and fire shield. He threw his sword at Alex, who teleported into droplets of water. Alex instantly appeared again behind Luigi and cried, "_Diamond Berg_!"

Luigi looked up to see a humongous sheet of ice about to collapse on him. He instinctively wavedashed out of the way, barely avoiding getting crushed.

Fox gritted his teeth. _Luigi is right… I can't let that get in the way right now…_

_Right now, I have to defeat Metaknight!_

"Hm? You've grown a bit more powerful this time," said Metaknight, jumping around with his small size and swinging his sword around.

Fox successfully countered every blow with his staff. "I've also got a couple new things." He whirled around to swing his staff as Metaknight raised his sword in defense.

Using Falco's fake-out techniques, Fox drew his blaster instead and fired it at Metaknight. Metaknight jumped out of the way at the very last possible moment, swinging his sword back at Fox.

BAM!

"I don't know what you did to Samus…" Captain Falcon muttered angrily as his elbows locked with Wolf's fists. "But I'm going to force it outta you and kill you!"

"Peh! I dare you to try, bastard!" Wolf replied, disappearing in a blink of an eye. Captain Falcon sensed his presence and whirled around, blocking a fatal blow from Wolf's hand.

"Pretty fast…" Falcon grunted as he jumped away speedily to avoid another punch. Wolf moved forward extremely fast and engaged in a hand-to-hand combat fight with Falcon. The normal human eye would only be able to see blank blurs of gray and blue, which were actually Falcon's and Wolf's arms and legs fighting each other.

For a moment, a spectator would think that the smashers were on even footing with the members of the Ring of Darkness, the carriers of the Endowment of Exigency.

Of course, that's not the case. Heck, they're not even _close_ to being as powerful as them yet.

Alex successfully avoided another thunderbolt attack from Luigi and looked displeased with himself. "You're really starting to get on my nerves…" he said.

Metaknight looked at Alex, reading his mind. "No, save your Ren Kiu for later. It'll take too much energy," he said, countering another staff blow and blaster shot.

"But really… It's time to put an end to this," replied Black Shadow. He snapped his fingers and a black sphere instantly surrounded Jigglypuff, sucking the energy away from her. Jigglypuff desperately used all the abilities she knew to get out, but it was no use.

"You're not getting past me, it's not ending yet!" Falcon cried confidently.

"Oh, but I think it will," Wolf replied. He suddenly disappeared; he was moving so fast that even Captain Falcon's eyes and body couldn't keep up with the speed!

Suddenly, Falcon's body was beaten in several spots on his body at the same time! Several times his face felt the bruising pain of a foot stomping in it, several times his stomach was punted by a rock hard fist, several times his back broke from the power of a forehead bashing into it, and his body was beaten in less than a second. Period.

"I'm afraid, Fox, that even though you have grown more powerful, it is not close to enough," said Metaknight. Before Fox could say anything, the masked puffball raised his sword and ran through Fox in a second, leaving behind a deep wound. Coincidentally, this wound coincided with the closed wound from Scizor, reopening it again.

Luigi looked at his right arm and noticed that his lightning sword disappeared!

_Well I used it all to finish off Leon… Not surprising._

Luigi was suddenly surrounded by a million sharp and pointy icicles!

"_Ice Missile_!" Alex cried. The icicles all pointed at Luigi and charged, stabbing him at every possible point of his body.

Oh boy, our heroes sure enjoy being punctured everywhere, right?

Luigi, all bloody, fell to the ground, barely conscious. Alex spat on him. "Still as weak and predictable as before, you plumber," he said. "You are no match for me. Ice and Water psyenergy prevail over your lightning and fire powers."

In an instant, all four smashers were downed: Jigglypuff was still trapped in a black energy force field, drained of all her energy, Captain Falcon was on the ground with broken bones everywhere in his body, and Luigi and Fox were in their own pool of blood from their new wounds.

"What a pushover… And to think that your underdogs were taken out by then, Wolf!" said Black Shadow.

"Shut the fuck up! They were useless anyways!" Wolf barked at Black Shadow.

"You… You… tell us… Samus…" Falcon muttered, reaching his hand out to Wolf.

Wolf viciously stomped on Falcon's hand with his inhumane power, breaking every single bone in his hand. Captain Falcon screamed, unable to move.

"Where's your Samus? I told you, I was finished dealing with her!" Wolf yelled, stomping on Falcon's hand again. "Just fucking die already!"

"Did you already forget, Wolf?" a feminine voice was heard. Samus emerged from the door in her silver armor suit, looking perfectly in good condition to fight.

"Samus!" All four smashers cried.

"About time," Wolf barked.

"Samus is too… strong for you, you'd… never beat her…" said Falcon. "Help us… Samus… We need you…"

BOOM!

Captain Falcon's body was flung several feet into the air by a super missile. Samus's arm cannon steamed with smoke, pointed at where Falcon's body was moments before.

"You need me, huh?"

Wolf gave an evil smile as Samus fired another super missile at Falcon's body, severely damaging it further.

"You need me?" she repeated. "I clearly noticed that all of you fucking needed me… needed to fucking **_USE_** me!"

"Samus… What the hell are you… doing?" Fox cried, looking up at Samus with pleading eyes.

"I don't need you. I work alone. Ridley finally showed me the truth moments before he self-destructed at Tallon IV. Wolf simply showed me the way to that truth."

"Ridley? What are you talking about?" Jigglypuff asked, still lying down. Black Shadow finally released the force field, but Jigglypuff was too weak to move anyways.

"Never mind. But from now on, you're all on your own. I am everyone's enemy, I am your enemy, I am their enemy, I am my own enemy.

Try living without using for once."

Luigi chuckled. "I knew it…" he muttered.

"Hm?"

"I knew you were hiding something… The hints were subtle, but they were there… You'd get pissed every time somebody said 'use.' It's all so obvious. I never thought you'd go this far though…"

"Shut your damn mouth!" Alex yelled, releasing an icy mist to freeze Luigi's legs. Luigi cried in pain as his legs were frozen to the floor, his punctured foot still bleeding.

"Alex! Stop it!" Samus commanded.

"So you're on their side?" Fox asked. "Why are you on their side?"

Samus smiled. "Because they are not using me. I am what I am when I am with them." Samus whirled around at Alex. "I hope Wolf already told you this, but the deal was that I'd join you if you left them alive for the moment."

Wolf glared at Alex. "You heard the bitch."

"You tried to kill one of them too, you idiot!" Alex angrily replied.

"Quiet!" Metaknight commanded.

Samus looked at the four smashers. "I'll give you one chance, and only one chance. I will let you off of this plane."

"Wait, so you try to kill us and now you're trying to save us?" Fox asked. He hid the pain in him; first Falco, now Samus? It was already too much.

"I'm trying to do you a favor, you idiots," Samus replied. "But if you dare try to hinder our progress or take me back…

You're all only committing suicide. You can't beat them. It's impossible. Release them."

Black Shadow nodded as four black holes appeared, each for one beaten smasher. "I hope to never see you all again," he said. All four smashers were sucked into the hole and dropped off of the plane, falling several feet above the skyscrapers of Corneria.

The last word that was heard from them was: "SAMUS!!!"

Wolf laughed. "What a way to betray them, right Samus?" he laughed again.

Samus glared at him, giving him an icy glare. That immediately shut him up.

Metaknight stayed silent. _The plan has worked… The plan that Ridley carried out weeks ago before his death. But we must be careful, we mustn't allow Samus to become more powerful than any of us._

_In fact, we need to keep a watch over her… She is already almost as powerful as Alex…_


	45. Chapter 45: Revelations

Hack: …Big turn of events in Chapter 44, eh? Wonder if any of you actually suspected that…

Obviously Fox is the main character as of now, but that role will switch in the near future. Much moving stuff from a friend of Fox. Enjoy this sappy chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 45: Revelations**

Fox woke up in a fluffy, white, comfortable bed. He looked around him to see nothing but a completely white room. To his left was a glass window, and to his right was a golden-framed mirror. Directly in front of him was a white chair.

_Where the hell am I?_ He asked himself. He groaned as he held his head, finally noticing the ringing headache. "Ow…"

Fox sat up instantly in the bed. "Anyone in here?" he asked. He heard nothing, but he thought he heard some mumbling.

_Funny… I thought I heard someone mumble…_

"Anyone in here?" He repeated. This time, he definitely heard someone mumbling. But where? To his left? To his right? In front of him? Below him?

Directly in front of him was Captain Falcon, looking directly at him. "So you think that I understand no fucking thing about your life, right?" he asked angrily.

"Wha… Falcon… I'm sorry about that… I… lost control…"

"You fucking asshole, you just raged at me like that! You're going to fucking pay for this!"

Fox heard more voices and he whirled around to his left to see Samus sitting on the window pane. He instantly stood up on the ground. "Samus!" he cried.

Samus pointed her arm cannon at him. "Don't move, or else you'll lose your damn head," she warned.

"Samus… What are you doing?" Fox took a step forward, but Samus fired a missile directly in front of his feet, stopping him.

"You're such an asshole, using me to no ends… Using me all the time for your own personal needs. Remember when you sent me to fight Ridley by myself? Remember when you tried to control the entire team?"

"No… I was only…"

Fox heard a clanging noise behind him and he whirled around again to face the mirror, which had the image of…

Falco…

"You fucking asshole…" the image of Falco murmured. "You made my whole life a rejection…"

"No…" gasped Fox.

"Yes, you did! You were the one that made me crack! You were the turning point of my life! We were together all the time, yet you rejected me! It's all your fault! You fucking killed me!"

"Falco…"

"Did you get the point? YOU FUCKING KILLED ME!!"

"…"

The image of Falco turned into the image of… Fox.

"It's all your fault, Fox…" the mirror said.

The real Fox grabbed his head and screamed.

"**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!**"

* * *

Fox woke up, sweating everywhere on his furry body and trembling with fear. He panted heavily, looking at the room around him.

Again, he found himself in a bed. How strange.

Fox held his head down as he sat up in it. This room was much darker than before, yet he was sure it wasn't a dream this time.

_At least I hope so…_

He looked around himself and his predictions were right. Two beds were to his right, and one bed lay to his left. The two beds on his right had a sleeping Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff in them, resting from the rough day in Corneria. To his left was an empty bed…

_Where the hell is Luigi?_

Fox jumped out of his bed and miraculously felt no pain at all! He noticed a wrapped bandage around his wound reopened thanks to Metaknight.

Speaking of Metaknight…

_Damn it… I can't believe it… He was just playing with me all the time… Fuck it all…_

_And he still has Ren Kiu that I have to face…_

Fox walked to the open window and looked out from it to see the sun shining upon him, and a graveyard.

Then the truth finally slapped him across the face. Falco was dead.

And Fox was responsible for all of it.

_Why… Why did it all have to come to this… I couldn't even salvage his body for a proper burial… He saved me, and he helped me go further on…_

_Yet I couldn't do anything for him except be responsible for his suicide… _

"**FUCK IT!!!**" Fox screamed, slamming his fist against the wall. When he drew his fist to punch the wall a second time, he felt someone grab his wrist.

"Fox…" said Luigi. "…I… I don't know what to say…"

"…Luigi?"

Luigi took a deep breath. "I know… It's a hard time for you. Things like this happen to everyone."

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but… I doubt you'd understand," Fox said kindly.

Luigi smiled. "I knew you'd say that. But remember, no matter how hard things get, no matter how hard it is to smile…

I'll be there for you. We'll look out for each other, even though we come from different worlds."

Those words themselves caused Fox to melt into warmth. "…Thank you, Luigi," he said.

"I… I don't know what exactly happened to Falco, but you can tell me."

"About Falco's… suicide?"

Luigi nodded with a stern expression. "Yes. You can trust me. If you tell me everything about it, I'll sympathize with you."

Fox had no choice. Reluctantly, yet calmly, he told Luigi everything.

* * *

"Things are a lot worse than when Cackletta was here… Heck, Cackletta didn't even do anything when she was here!" said Peach.

The unexpected group of heroes were sitting at a large round table… A rather large one at that. Starting from Princess Peach's right was Mario, Yoshi, Vivian, Goombella and Admiral Bobbery (a goomba and a bomb-omb that helped Mario in his quest against the X-Nauts), Bowser, (young) Link, Ganondorf, and Donkey Kong, who had just walked in.

So really, there's ten people at the table in Peach's castle.

"Glad you could come, DK," said Mario, giving him a warm smile. "I know things have been tough at your isle there…"

"Don't worry, Diddy Kong is strong enough to guard it from any Kremlings," said DK.

"I'd rather just fucking burn those assholes away… Didn't they know that treasure should've been mine?" Bowser growled.

"Um… no," said Peach. "Not really. If you didn't know, there wasn't any treasure behind the Thousand-Year Door."

"…Oh."

"By the way, why did you two come here anyways?" asked Yoshi, looking at the two smashers from Hyrule.

(Young) Link smiled. "Well we don't really do much at Hyrule, honestly. I'm just a traveling nomad of Hyrule, and Ganondorf already has a leader to take care of the Gerudos so he can come to help out."

"I got a distress call from one of your friends…" Ganondorf started. "Geno, I think? He told me that the Mushroom Kingdom needed our help, so I set up Nabooru to set things right in the desert while I come here. I told the two Links and Zelda about it, but Elder Link and Zelda were both too busy with reconstructing Hyrule."

"Well I'm glad you guys came too… Grodus, as far as I know, is far more powerful than when I faced him in the Shadow Palace," said Mario. "I'm glad that Vivian saved me and Yoshi from their prison… Otherwise, we'd both be executed brutally."

"Heh… It's nothing," said Vivian, blushing.

"I'm glad we could come from Rogueport too!" Goombella squeaked. One of Mario's partners in Rogueport, Goombella was the brightest helped he could've wished for, and her abilities in battles weren't too shabby. She was a goomba with a blond ponytail and wore goggles over her forehead.

"None of the others could come though, old chap," said Admiral Bobbery. An old bomb-omb who loved to sail out to the seas, he had joined Mario after the plumber sympathized with him about his deceased wife. His abilities to explode in battle and navigate the seas flawlessly were extremely helpful too.

"So where's Grodus's X-Naut base anyways? Do you remember, Mario?" Peach asked.

Mario rolled his eyes. "Well the _hidden_ base," he said, making a quote gesture with his index and middle fingers when he said 'hidden', "is just a ways east to Toad Town, plain in view especially if you're taking a nice, quiet stroll across the Pleasant Path. I wouldn't be surprised if all the Koopas in the Koopa Village already evacuated from seeing the dangerous base, it's that obvious."

"…Well at least they're still as stupid and clumsy as before," Vivian joked.

"Anyways… I had all of the residents of the Toad Town evacuate to Star Haven, the star spirits opened the Star Way for them by our wishes," explained Peach. "Grodus assembled a large army of commanders…"

"This _is_ a bit like what happened in Hyrule…" Young Link (who we shall name Link for convenience from now on) commented.

"…Maybe, but I wouldn't know what happened. But the group that Grodus assembled is extremely powerful… We'll need to work together to infiltrate the base and break in."

"So how are we going to fucking do that?" Bowser asked.

Mario stood up. "I have an idea…"

* * *

It took over half an hour for Fox to explain everything to Luigi, and he did not regret it. It felt as if a heavy burden was taken off of his back.

"I don't know…" said Fox. "I just feel that… I don't deserve to live…"

Luigi placed his hand on Fox's back for compassion. "Well if you decided to commit suicide because your friend decided to commit suicide… What do you think we'd do?"

"Huh?"

"If we were all like you, then we'd all kill ourselves too from your death, thinking it's our fault. It's like a chain reaction.

But we don't cling on to the past all the time. What I do… I get very sad and emotional, but after a couple days, I am forced to leave it behind.

Do you see, Fox? We can't cling on to the past forever. We have to move on with our lives and leave it behind."

"Leave it behind? You're acting as if I should forget…"

"No, you should not forget what happened. Think of it as a lesson, if you want to. I guess I worded it wrong…" Luigi apologetically said. "All right, when something like this happens, especially if you feel guilty, clinging on to that event will not do any good at all. Nothing good will come out from being depressed by feeling guilty for Falco's suicide. It happens… And we have to move on. Do you get it?"

Fox nodded. "Yeah… I've been obsessing over Falco for a while…" He tripped on a loose bump on the rug laid on the ground and took out his staff to regain his balance.

…Unexpectedly, Fox stabbed his staff on the ground to gain his balance… Directly on Luigi's right foot.

"Shit! Luigi!" Fox cried. Strangely, Luigi didn't cry out in pain at all.

"Oh, this?" he asked as Fox stood up again. Luigi lifted his right leg up to reveal an artificial metal foot. "It was so badly damaged that I had to get it amputated."

"You got your foot fucking amputated? Shit! Are you okay?"

"It's really nice, actually. It feels like a normal foot after you get used to it. But this is an example."

"…of what?"

"Of what you have to do. I've lost my foot due to Leon's sword, and I have been obsessing over it yesterday for a bit. But I let it go. Problems are solved, and I can finally move on with my life.

Do you get it, Fox?"

"…Yeah… I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I understand."

"But why do you think Captain Falcon attacked me like that?"

"It must've been when you said that none of us understood… I think that Captain Falcon experienced something really painful in his past, similar to what happened to you and Falco.

He probably got pretty angry at you and lost control."

"Meh…" Fox looked up at the ceiling.

"But we have more important matters at hand… Remember Samus?"

_Oh… Right…_ Fox thought.

Luigi nodded. "I can't believe it…"

"Me neither…"

"Katt and Bill found us on the rubble. She told me that all four of us were lucky to have survived the fall, and they nursed us in the hospital. We've been in here for three days, and I'd expect Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff to wake up later today.

So here's my plan of action. Falco… His funeral is the day after tomorrow. That day, we all get prepared to attend it. I'm glad that you didn't see Katt when she learned of the news… She didn't even know he was in Corneria."

_Katt… I have to tell her what Falco said… His last words…_

"Also, I saw all of our enemies board the Halberd above Corneria. Peppy already got them tracked down, so we can get some Arwings to return to the Great Fox and give chase. You all right with it?"

"Yeah… But Luigi… Bring Katt over here," said Fox. "I have something to say to her."

Luigi raised an eyebrow. "You want me to bring her? Okay." Luigi left the room to call Katt in.

Fox placed his back on the bed again. He heard a groaning noise from the bed beside him.

"…Samus babe, why don't you get in bed with me…"

Fox didn't even want to know what the racer was dreaming.

* * *

Two days after the smashers all woke up…

There was a large crowd of people around two gravestones. Fox didn't know of General Pepper's death until the day before, when his insides turned over again. It was already too much, but he remembered Luigi's words to him, and the best he figured he should do was to go to their funeral and give his last words before he leaves the planet.

Fox, Peppy, Slippy, Krystal, Katt, and Bill were all dressed in black, standing over the gravestones. Katt's eyes were completely blinded by her tears, and Bill wore an expression of horror.

"_Katt… About Falco…"_

_"Um… yeah, Fox?"_

"_He… um… He said right before he died… That…"_

"_What… did he say?"_

"_He said that… he loved you."_

"…" _Katt made no comment._

"_His life, in his point of view…" Fox continued. "Was a big… deception. A life of lies and distrust… A life of loneliness. I know, I'm one to blame… I was the one who triggered his suicide."_

"_No… It's okay… I just wished…" Tears were pouring down Katt's face now, dripping and splattering onto the ground._

_"I just wished that… I could've seen him one more time…"_

"Damn it…" Fox mumbled. "I couldn't save Pepper either…"

"Fox, are you all right?" Krystal asked.

"…No, it's okay. I'm already over it, it's been almost a week…" Fox replied.

The stones were dropped into the ground, and soil was spilled over it, burying them. In one of them was the burnt body of General Pepper.

In the other was completely nothing.

_Falco… If only if I could change what I said before… If only if you told me, your best friend, everything before it was too late… If only if you let me know what was happening to you… I've accomplished what you told me to do… What your last words were…_

_And Pepper… My commander. I never got a chance to speak to you for a long time, and you've been a great one. I should've been there to protect you from the Starwolf Team…_

_I'll destroy the Ring of Darkness with my own bare hands, if only for the sake of making you two proud of me. I'll grow powerful enough to save the world… No, the entire universe. I'll grow powerful enough to wipe out Metaknight… Then the master of the Ring of Darkness._

_Dad… I hope you're watching me._


	46. Chapter 46: New Powers

Hack: Next chapter! The Smashers are going to go to a new world now! And it's one that they have already visited! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 46: New Powers**

Saying good-bye to Katt and Bill was far too painful for Fox. He simply left them with a shrug, yet he reassured himself that he'd return to Corneria once his quest was finished.

But there was another person that wasn't going to be joining the team back on the Great Fox.

"Fox…" said Slippy. "I'm sorry…"

Fox shrugged, yet it's obvious that he's holding back tears. "Don't be," he said, standing by his Arwing. "We all have a life, we'll all have to quit the team eventually. I understand that you didn't leave because of me kicking off Falco… It's because you have a life to get back to. I respect that."

Slippy gave him a warm smile. "Thanks, Fox. And remember, you always have a place at my house. Take them down!"

Both gave each other a brotherly hug then Fox hopped into his Arwing. He looked at his intercom to see Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Luigi crammed up.

"Damn it, there's no fucking space in here!" Falcon yelled.

"Deal with it," Fox gave a smirk. It really was like it was when they began their quest.

"We're going to bring Samus back," said Luigi. "Don't complain, it's all for her. I have no idea why she did what she did but… She must have a story behind it, and I'm sure Ridley has something to do with it too."

"Oh, right! Samus!"

All of the smashers rolled their eyes at Falcon's comment.

"So… Does Peppy know where the Halberd is?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I received a call from him, and he said that he's tracking it down at the moment. It seems that it'll take another week for us to revisit Mushroom Kingdom…" Fox answered.

* * *

_In one week… In exactly one week we're hitting the X-Nauts right when they're weak and right when they feel confident…_

_When they've finally wiped all of the cities out and ruled them. They're actually so stupid they'll think they already won without the fight. Luckily, we'll have everyone evacuated. When they're weak and believe that they've already won, we strike right there._

_It's fool-proof if you think about it… The X-Nauts are really that stupid._

Mario was on his bed, thinking about his plan that he offered to Princess Peach. Everyone agreed on the simplicity of it because they were fighting the X-Nauts, the stupidest villains alive.

But although they were stupid, they weren't necessarily weak.

"_Holy shit!" Mario yelled, looking up at the huge machine that carried Crump in it._

"_Buh-huh-huh! Like my newly improved machine?"_

_Mario took out his ultra hammer, ready to fight. "Well here goes nothing…"_

"Damn…" Mario whispered. "Just came back from my vacation yesterday, and look what's happening now…"

He suddenly sat up with a start. Something hit him. How the hell did Grodus suddenly grow so powerful? Is it the Endowment of Exigency?

He had to go to Peach to talk with her about it. He never really knew many details about it since he left Luigi and the other smashers for his vacation.

Mario walked out of the guest room and looked around in the dim room filled with doors everywhere. He had been in here several times, particularly when he fought Bowser with the star rod.

_Maybe we can use the star rod to wipe out the X-Nauts, but someone might be selfish and try to abuse it…_

_Like Bowser… We may be friends and rivals, but I still can't trust him with the star rod very much. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to rule the world again, just to fight me._

_Maybe that's how we became friends; the eternal rivalry between us two since birth._

Mario arrived at a door in the center of the room, which was slightly decorated. Clearly, it was Peach's bedroom. He looked at the clock and noticed some people might still be awake, so he knocked.

No answer. He knocked again to receive no answer. Then he grabbed the doorknob and turned it to walk in.

He immediately wished he didn't. Right before him was a naked Princess Peach dressing, who was looking in his direction.

"EEEYAAHHHH!!!" Peach screamed, covering herself with her dress while throwing her frying pan at Mario. Mario immediately jumped over it as he slammed the door behind him. "DIDN'T ANYONE TEACH YOU TO KNOCK?"

"I was knocking a minute before! I'm sorry!" Mario blushed as he closed the door. He would definitely regret it for the rest of his life. "But it's common sense to _lock_ the door while your dressing after a shower! Or answer when I knock on the door!"

"I… I just forgot!" Peach blushed too, embarrassed as she finally clothed herself. "You can come in now… I guess…"

Mario walked in, still embarrassed at what had happened. "Yeah… sorry about that, but I wanted to talk to you about something."

Peach sat down on her bed. "What is it? About your plan?" she asked, tying her hair back.

Mario shook his head. "Well it has something to do with it, but more importantly about Grodus himself. How did he become so damn powerful?"

"I'm not so sure myself, he seems to be a villain so maybe he was part of the gang that used the Endowment of Exigency… The enemies of Luigi."

"That was my theory, but I didn't get many of the details about it since I left before they left. I have to thank Luigi for saving my life from Cackletta weeks before…"

"Well we'll find out soon, when we face him."

* * *

"We're lucky to have sighted the Halberd," said Peppy Hare in the main rec room of the Great Fox. "We can track them down now, though it'll take another week…" 

"Yeah, you already told me," said Fox. "But one week… I'm not so sure if that's enough for us to individually train to be able to fight the top members of the Ring of Darkness…"

Fox felt a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it," said Luigi. "We'll do what we can do with the time we have. Remember… Our goal is to bring back Samus and see why she joined them."

"I knew it, damn it!" Captain Falcon yelled. "I knew that Ridley did something to her! Her sudden knowledge of the Ring of Darkness… The sudden powers in her suit, how she saved us from Kraid? It's so… obvious! I can't believe I fucking missed that!"

"It's none of our faults anyways…" Jigglypuff responded quietly. "I… don't know why she did that…"

Luigi shook his head. "But if we keep having Samus's betrayal lingering in our minds, we can't focus on what we have to do at the moment. Peppy told us that the Halberd seems to be heading towards Mushroom Kingdom, for an unknown reason.

This way, we'll be facing enemies that are more powerful than back in the Starwolf mother ship. After what I've faced against Leon…" Luigi lifted up his right prosthetic foot. "I don't think I'm going to sit back to lost any more damn body parts to more powerful enemies, I'd rather become more powerful to face these new enemies and emerge victorious. And if it's not for victory or pride… At least do it for Samus."

Falcon flexed his muscles. "No worries, I'm going to beat the shit outta any Ring o' Darkness assholes if they touch her at all!"

Fox shook his head. "I doubt they'd touch her… Remember that she's on their side now, and she's _really_ powerful too. It'll take quite a bit of persuasion to bring her back with us."

"Pessimistic, aren't we?" Jigglypuff commented.

"Maybe." Fox simply shrugged.

There was silence. After a minute, Luigi broke it by saying, "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Everyone stood up when something finally hit Luigi, but it was too late. The three other smashers fell on their faces, exhausted from their injuries. Peppy chuckled.

"I suppose you lads better get at least a day's worth of rest before you go off to train, eh?" he said.

* * *

The next day… 

"Fox…" said Krystal, the only member left on the Starfox team aside from Fox himself. Her stomach was obviously slightly larger than before from her pregnancy, since one month passed.

"Yeah, you told me to come to your room for a moment yesterday," Fox replied. "Well I'm here. What do you want to talk about?"

"Erm…"

Fox blushed. "Um… If it's about Falco… I don't want to talk about it."

"I understand. But you're here because there's something I need to tell you about your staff."

"Huh? I thought I already got all that I needed…"

Krystal lifted a finger, placing it on Fox's lips. "Nope, you're wrong!" she smiled.

"Stop teasing me!" Fox replied with a smile as he pushed Krystal's hand away. "So tell me about it, I'd do anything to defeat Metaknight, just to see Pepper and Falco proud of me… And my dad…"

Krystal nodded. "Your staff has multiple levels of power, different levels that transform you into a more powerful form. However, you obviously didn't experience that yet. You are only on the first level: The Basic Form."

"So… If I bring my abilities up to the next level…"

Krystal nodded again. "You'll be much more powerful than now. And if you bring them up to the third level, then the fourth… Well you can guess what results you'll get."

"I see… So how am I going to be able to achieve this next level?"

"Well a normal master of the staff would need at least two years to reach the second level, but you're far from normal. So I set up a rigorous five-day training schedule, you'll be training to your breaking point for twenty hours per day.

I suppose someone like you wouldn't mind that though, would you?"

"Nope, not at all," Fox replied. "I'll need all that I can get to be able to face the new enemies in Mushroom Kingdom, and if five days of rigorous training is all it takes, I'll do it."

Krystal clapped her hands together. "Great! After this training schedule, you'll get the gist of it and be able to wield level two, but you'll need to train yourself for the later levels. So how about let's start in four hours? Eat all you need, because it'll be a difficult training schedule that I've set up for you…"

"Wait, you're training with me?"

"Yes, but I'll only be your coach."

"But you're… pregnant…"

"It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it."

* * *

"_There are several more abilities that'll help you become more powerful," Spekkio began. "Each with a unique result. For example, Disable prevents your opponent from using a certain ability and Taunt forces your opponent to only use offensive attacks. Foresight is an ability strictly for ghosts, as it allows you to use normal and fighting based attacks on them afterwards."_

"_Yes… I know most of these already…"_

"_Yup. I'm sure these abilities will come in handy against your enemies. Oh! Another useful one that you can individually learn is Mean Look, your opponent can't escape from your sight."_

"_What use is that?"_

"_Well think about it. If you did something to your opponent that forces him or her to want to run, Mean Look stops your enemy from doing so. For example, if you poison someone with Toxic or Poison Gas, that person will want to retreat to recover briefly in the middle of the fight. Mean Look prevents that from happening. Another combination that you can use is with Perish Song, but I'd recommend against it unless you literally want to kamikaze your opponent."_

Jigglypuff was panting in the training room, forcing her body to adapt to new abilities. Fortunately for her, she had just mastered one of the most powerful attacks of all.

"_Earthquake_!" she cried, slamming her hand on the ground. The solid floor immediately cracked, sending sections of it flying everywhere. Anyone that stood on the ground would be crushed and severely injured.

_Phew… I suppose that's all for today… I've done lots._ Jigglypuff walked out of the room, satisfied with herself. She saw Luigi, who also looked satisfied with himself.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Well I finished my new project!" Luigi cried with a smile, holding up a set of silver clothing identical to his own overalls and accessories (gloves, boots, etc).

"Huh? How is that going to help?"

"Well think about this. If my green gloves helped us countless times, these clothing are ten times more powerful, though they don't have the same purpose as my green gloves. I even sewed red gloves together to absorb and release fire now!" He held up a pair of large, saggy red gloves.

"I see… So what does this new set of clothing do?"

Luigi gave Jigglypuff a suspicious wink. "It's a surprise. I'm only going to use it when I absolutely have to, because the Ring of Darkness is constantly watching us."

"Oh, right! The Starwolf Team had tabs on us to hit our weaknesses!"

"Yeah, so we have to be cautious and not mess around with our new powers too much. We're basically announcing what new things we have in store for them, so they can get ready for us. It's common sense really, but _someone_ in here doesn't get that…"

"Okay now, get ready everyone, here comes my new sexy move of the day!" Captain Falcon declared. "The newly improved, Falcon Dash!"

Captain Falcon ran… Extremely fast around the room, leaving behind a thick trail of fire. Peppy screamed as he ran around, trying to put the fire out.

Jigglypuff sighed. "Surf…" The entire room was suddenly drench by water, yet put out all of the fire. Strangely, nothing was damaged from the water.

"Well what have you been up to, Jigglypuff?" Luigi asked, ignoring what just happened.

"Just… training myself to be more variable."

"…Variable?"

"Like, learning more variety of moves and such."

"Ah… Well good luck with that. You'll probably need it… The training, I mean."

"Thanks!"

"By the way, have you seen Fox?"

Jigglypuff's eyes look up at Luigi. "Yes, he was in the smash virtual room with Krystal, doing some weird stuff with his staff and blasters… It looks a bit strange, what they were doing."

Luigi's eyes narrowed. "It's just training, right?"

"Yeah… Why?"

"Okay, I was just hoping they didn't get… ideas or something."

"Luigi!"

* * *

"Damn it!" Wolf growled under his breath, smashing his fist on the table… for the millionth time. "So Mario escaped from Grodus and is currently forming a plan to destroy him in a week?" 

Gigyas nodded. In his human form, he was a dark-skinned man with a long, black cloak and short black hair. He looked more like a vampire than a devil, wearing black boots and a red undershirt.

"Damn it… Well Grodus better fix everything up before we get there in four days. It is a test to see if he is more worthy than Cackletta…"

Wolf turned to Samus. "What are you thinking about?" he asked her.

Samus shook her head. "…Nothing."

"Still sad about ditching your bitches? Because you know Ridley was right about them."

"…Yes, he was."


	47. Chapter 47: Mushroom Kingdom, Revisited

Hack: If you know what happened at the end of this chapter…

**Don't spoil it in your review!**

It'd be great if the others who don't know can find out by next chapter, which they will! Not much more in this chapter, really. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 47: Mushroom Kingdom, Revisited  
**

"I see it! The Halberd!" cried Jigglypuff, attempting to jump up and down in the cramped space while pointing at the menacing black ship hovering over the planet Mushroom Kingdom.

"Stop jumping, damn it! There's already less than enough space without you jumping!" Captain Falcon grumbled.

"Chill out," Fox said over the intercom, the pilot of the Arwing as usual. "We'll be there in about ten minutes. You're all ready for whatever's coming up?"

Luigi smirked. "Never better."

Jigglypuff turned to Luigi. "How is it going with your new weapon?" she asked.

"I'm… not going to use it unless it's absolutely necessary. You see, there might be a big drawback, but I don't want to reveal it… Let's say that it's more suited for solo fights."

"Oh… I see."

"Well I hope Mario had a nice vacation. I'm pretty sure he'd be back by now, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was attacked when he comes back… In fact, if Mushroom Kingdom wasn't under attack, then the world would end."

"Huh? Why?"

Luigi rolled his eyes. "What I meant was, it's impossible for Mushroom Kingdom to _not_ be under attack for even five minutes… Exaggeration, I know, but still. We need to hire new guards for Peach, even though she can fend herself pretty well.

I mean, all those damn toads ever do whenever the castle is under attack is hide in a corner and cry."

"…Wow. Those are pretty…"

"Wussy bodyguards, I know. It really annoys me that we don't have enough funding in order to hire better bodyguards…

I don't know why, but with all due respect, Mushroom Kingdom is a pretty poor nation."

Jigglypuff's eyes narrowed, looking more interested in the topic. "Why?" she asked.

Luigi continued. "Well it's not obvious that it's poor, all of its civilians live in peace. Everything looks fine, the insides and outsides of the castle are all beautiful, no village in the kingdom is in total chaos, and everything seems perfect.

But deep inside the nation, it is suffering from low funding. It's been going on since the time I was a baby, so I wouldn't know why it started. No guards anywhere at all, and if someone waged war on us, we'd totally lose."

"Ouch…"

"Yeah. So our nation's pretty week with the military, and other spots too…"

"Guys!" Fox called through the intercom. "We're arriving directly behind Peach's castle, and it looks… not too good."

* * *

If Corneria and Hyrule couldn't win a competition in how destroyed and PWNed they were, Mushroom Kingdom could make the runner-up. Well not nearly as much as Corneria, so there wasn't rubble at every square inch. Just about half of the buildings were devastated, torn down by either lightning or brute force. 

Even worse, Peach's castle looked completely dark and depressed, as if some dark entity took over it… The sky was completely dark, and the weather was constantly raining with thunder violently roaring in the skies. Peach's castle seemed more like a haunted mansion. However, by no means was it any bit destroyed.

For some reason, this scene looked familiar to Luigi.

_Well we'll find out how this devastation seems so familiar to me…_ Luigi thought.

"What the hell happened here?" Captain Falcon blurted out.

Jigglypuff looked at Luigi. "You're not surprised at all, are you?" she asked.

Luigi nodded. "Not surprised at all. This kind of stuff happens all the time… Trust me."

"Geez, I hope Peach is okay…" said Fox.

"Don't worry, they're always fine."

The four smashers opened the door with a loud, scary creaking noise. The lights were completely off, it seemed that the castle really was haunted…

"Okay, this is REALLY creeping the shit out of me," said Falcon. "Aren't you guys any bit scared?"

"Nah," replied Luigi. "I'm used to this stuff."

"I've been through worse…" said Fox. Jigglypuff nodded to show that she agreed.

Luigi stopped everyone with an arm. "Wait," he said, taking out an object. The room was so dark though, nobody could see what it was.

A peeled piece of banana skin flew out of nowhere, right by Falcon's feet. Unfortunately, Falcon took a step, causing him to slip and fall over.

"Fuck!" he cried, crashing on his back. A beam of light shone on a green, fat floating transparent ghost, which was suddenly stunned. A pumping red heart appeared in its insides.

Luigi, the carrier of the flashlight, whipped out his poltergeist weapon and turned the vacuum cleaner on. He pointed it at the stunned ghost, which screamed as it struggled to escape from the vacuum's grasp.

But to no avail. Luigi's vacuum did the trick. After about half a minute of struggling, the ghost was finally sucked into the vacuum cleaner, dead. The lights were immediately turned on and at the door on the other side was Princess Peach.

"Peach!" all four smasher cried.

"…Where am I?" she suddenly asked, looking around the room in confusion.

"Peach! Tell me! Where did everyone go?" asked Luigi, running up to her.

"I… Don't know! The X-Nauts attacked… They kidnapped us! But what are you doing here?" she asked.

"The Ring of Darkness, man!" cried Falcon. "They took Samus and she joined them! The Halberd is around this world, so we entered to see why."

Peach gasped. "How… How could she? I can't ignore this plight at all!"

"By the way, Peach…" said Luigi. "Why are you still in this castle? I'm sure the villagers need you."

"Well I escaped, because Mario told me to as he fought off the X-Nauts outside the castle… I obeyed and hid in this castle, waiting for an ally to tell me the news."

Luigi looked up at Peach. "It's all devastated, half the buildings were destroyed."

Peach gasped again. "Oh my god! What happened to Mario?"

"I don't know…" said Jigglypuff. "There were no signs of life except inside this castle, so we decided to come in and check."

"You guys must be tired though," Peach started. "My room is still habitual and has food, you can come in to rest up if you want."

Fox smiled. "We'd appreciate it lots."

The four smashers followed Peach into her room, which was strangely bright and looked completely normal.

"I've been living off of whatever food I could find within the castle, but I didn't bother to clean it all up," said Peach. "It's been too risky, life in Mushroom Kingdom… We're a poor nation in reality."

"Yeah, I told Jigglypuff about it," said Luigi. "And she told Fox and Falcon about it. Once we save the universe, I'm going to come back here to help the kingdom with its problems. It'll take years, maybe decades for it to become a wealthy nation."

"Yes… I don't think I'll live to see it fully prosper…" Peach said with a sad tone. "But I'm afraid you're all going to die sooner than you think…"

Fox turned around to see the door lock behind him. "What the fuck?" he said.

Peach suddenly dashed up to the closed smasher with her frying pan: Jigglypuff. Caught by surprise, Jigglypuff couldn't guard herself against the attack.

CLANG

Luigi blocked the frying pan with his fire shield, which melted it in an instant.

"I knew it," said Luigi. "I knew you're not the real Peach. Reveal yourself, Duplighost!"

Luigi shot a lightning bolt at Peach, who instantly turned into a white cloaked ghost. The Duplighost had red eyes and fanged teeth in the hole where his mouth should be. He was extremely short, about half the height of Luigi. His feet were barely visible, as his white cloak covered them.

"Damn it! How did you know?" said Duplighost, jumping back.

"Anyone who knew Peach for his entire life should notice. First, Peach is an optimistic person, she would never say anything about herself dying. Second, she will never leave her people. Even if Mario told her to run, she would stay by his side and fight for her nation. And finally, Peach would always keep her castle in a clean condition. She's obsessive over being clean."

Luigi held a finger at the Duplighost. "It should've been obvious that you weren't the real Peach!"

"Damn it! I should've taken care of that damn plumber first…"

"I don't think you'll be able to take all of us on at the same time," said Fox, grinning.

"You'll see! Transform!" An energy ring appeared around the Duplighost, and he instantly transformed into a violet figure… It looks like a violet shadow of Mario.

The fake Mario brought his hammer and threw it on Luigi, who blocked it. Fox and Captain Falcon sped to both sides of the Duplighost and threw their legs into his side, causing him to cough in pain. Jigglypuff jumped over him and prepared the final blow.

With Mario's reflexes, the Duplighost jumped away from the four smashers, panting. Jigglypuff smiled as she knew he was doing that. Rather than attacking with a drill kick from above, she was charging a familiar attack…

"_Flamethrower_!" she cried, releasing the beam of fire, striking the Duplighost in the center.

But the Duplighost was clearly in pain. He growled as he held his palm out, releasing several fireballs aimed at the smashers. All four smashers, however, instantly jumped out of the way, avoiding the fireballs that are normally Mario's.

Fox grabbed his staff and swung it at the fake Mario several feet away. However, the force of his attack created a shockwave traveling towards him at a fast speed, threatening to cut anything in its way! The Duplighost jumped to the side with his jumping prowess, right where Captain Falcon was.

Unfortunately for the Duplighost, Falcon saw Fox's plan beforehand and was already about to finish charging a…

"FALCON PUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!" he screamed, releasing all of his energy. The Duplighost stopped in midair, then swung a purple cape around, flipping Captain Falcon around!

"I see this isn't going to work…" said the Duplighost. "Time for a change in plan…" He transformed again, but barely. This time, his shadow represented the taller, slightly slimmer Luigi. He released several bolts of electricity at the smashers.

Reading the fake Luigi like a book, the smashers dodged again and surrounded the fake Luigi. All four of them used one attack at the same time on the Duplighost, who was in no position to dodge.

Captain Falcon used another Falcon Punch.

Jigglypuff landed on the Duplighost's side and used rest.

Luigi used a green missile, which fortunately resulted with a misfire, creating an explosion on impact!

Fox grabbed his blaster, which was silently charging, and fired his fully charged shot.

The room immediately exploded, though the smashers remained unharmed. What remained on the floor was a purple, shadowy Luigi, who was the Duplighost.

"Peh! What a piece of cake!" said Captain Falcon, spitting on the shadow Luigi.

"Well we're not going to find anything here…" said Luigi. "Let's go everyone."

Jigglypuff looked at the shadow Luigi, then turned back. "We'll have to find Mario, I guess."

Fox silently followed. _Something's up here… It can't have been that easy. But maybe we're finally getting a break…_

_Maybe we won't have to fight hard enemies in this world._

_Like Falco…_

* * *

"It's times like this that I wish Samus was here…" said Falcon. "Then she could find the others with that X-Ray visor of hers… Damn it!" 

Luigi nodded. "Yeah, I miss her. But we're going to find out what's up with her…"

Fox looked around. "Luigi, where is the place that the enemy is most likely going to be?"

"Hm? I guess… Near the Koopa Village is your best bet. I read the boards around and they led to that place."

"So lead the way. We don't know where it is," said Fox.

Jigglypuff approached a sign. "This is… the Pleasant Path?"

"Yup," replied Luigi. "It leads to Koopa Village, so we're headed that way."

The four smashers looked ahead at the looming challenges ahead. For them, fighting the enemies in Mushroom Kingdom will only be a warm-up for what will come up soon…

* * *

Several minutes passed in the room silently when the shadow Luigi twitched. He stood up, staggering from the powerful attacks he just felt. 

He looked around the destroyed room of Peach and noticed the balcony to his right. He walked to it to see a view of the entire kingdom.

Almost all of it was destroyed…

But something else hit the shadow Luigi.

_Why the hell did Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Fox attack me? And why did I see myself attacking me?_


	48. Chapter 48: Identity Stolen

Hack: Whoever played Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door will be familiar with these events. Not much really happens in this chapter, so don't be surprised if you're a bit disappointed. Next chapter is where the fun starts!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 48: Identity Stolen**

_Something's been bothering me all this time… I want to go back to the castle to make sure for myself, but I can't shake off this feeling in the back of my head about it…_

"I can't help but feel that we forgot something back at Peach's castle," Fox started as the group of smashers were in the middle of journeying across the Pleasant Path.

The Pleasant Path was, indeed, pleasant, even in dark times such as these. Although the skies were dark, particularly above cities, flowers still bloomed over the grass and the yellow sidewalks stayed rough and straight.

"I'm not sure… I can't say that there isn't anything back there," said Jigglypuff. "Maybe one of us should go back there and check? We've only been journeying for half an hour, and we'll need a quick break."

Captain Falcon smirked. "I'll get there really fast!"

"Nah, you won't," said Luigi. "I'll go there, you'll all need your rest."

"You sure, buddy?" Falcon replied.

"Definitely." Luigi turned and began to walk in the opposite direction quickly.

* * *

"I can see it," said Donkey Kong, peering through the small window in the miniscule hideout. 

Mario nodded. "Yeah, it's not really a 'hidden' base, is it? At least last time their base was in a spot that I couldn't reach for a while… On the moon."

"Yeah… Link and Ganondorf are out scouting ahead to spy on the X-Nauts, and I must admit…" added Peach. "They're doing a pretty good job not being detected."

Mario rolled his eyes. "Is it hard to not be detected by the X-Nauts?"

"…I'm not so sure about that…"

Goombella and Admiral Bobbery appeared at the wooden door, panting. "I spotted it!" said Bobbery, his white mustache twitching.

"Spotted what?" Bowser grunted.

Goombella bounced up and down. "I saw a big, white plane land behind the castle by the horizon!"

"A big white plane? Is the spot around it blue, and does it have a symbol of a fox?" asked Mario.

"Yes! We also saw a couple people coming here on the Pleasant Path! They're resting right now!"

Mario stood up abruptly. "The smashers are here? At a time like this?"

"Mario! Calm down!" cried Peach.

"Sorry… I'm just getting excited."

"I know, we've all been knowing how much you wanted Luigi to be back here."

"No kidding…" said DK.

* * *

CRASH 

The window to Princess Peach's room broke as Luigi flung himself through it. He saw Shadow Luigi down before him, on the ground and panting.

Luigi smirked. "So you're still alive from our assaults?"

The other Luigi coughed blood. "What… Why… What are you talking about?"

"Ah… I guess you don't get what has been happening yet, do you?

The moment I transformed into you, I stole your identity. Now I own everything you owned, Luigi. Your name, your powers, your friends… Everything."

Shadow Luigi, who is the real Luigi, sat up. "Then what am I? What…" He turned to see a mirror to see a purple shadow of himself looking back at him. "What the fuck???!?!" he cried, falling on his back.

"But here's something even better: Your friends think that I am you. And if I keep this charade up, I'll lead them into the X-Nauts hideout and the traps that Grodus has left for them. If you even think of coming to us, we'll all attack you relentlessly!"

"You asshole…"

The fake Luigi (the non-shadow) smirked. "Our plan is finally going into action, and you can't do anything about it! You can't say who you are at all!"

The real Luigi yelled as he charged at the shadow Luigi, charging fire within his palms. "Even if you stole my identity, I still have my powers!"

The fake Luigi simply smiled as he stood there, waiting for the attack to strike him. When Luigi's fireballs exploded on every inch of his body, he was completely unharmed!

"You can't hurt me at all! Not until you guess my name! So I'll give you a chance to guess it."

Luigi looked up at his fake counterpart. _Is he lying? Is he trying to trick me?_

The fake Luigi read his mind. "I'm not trying to lie, I'm serious about this. The only way you'll beat me is if you guess my name, and it's not Duplighost!"

"…Duplighost?"

The fake Luigi opened his eyes widely. "Oh my god! How could you…"

Luigi smiled. "Looks like I guessed it, you made it so obvious…"

"PAH! PULLING YOUR LEG! Who'd name their child a Duplighost, our race? It's as stupid as making a Yoshi's name Yoshi! You fail! Fortunately for you, I can't hurt you at all until you guess my name somehow, but I doubt you'll ever find out. But to guarantee that you won't interfere…"

The fake Luigi took out a remote control with a big red button. "What's that?" the real Luigi asked.

"Your demise." He pressed it. The entire castle began to crumble with the real Luigi in it, who was unable to move. The fake Luigi jumped out through the window to rejoin with the smashers.

_Shit! What am I going to do? How am I going to get out of here alive?_

_And just how am I going to get out of this mess?_

The ceiling fell over Luigi as he closed his eyes, hoping that he'd get out alive.

KABOOM

* * *

"We've reached Koopa Village… I don't think the X-Nauts are very smart people either," said Fox, pointing at the not-so-well-hidden base, completely visible in the horizon from the deserted Koopa Village. 

It was completely deserted, but it wasn't anywhere near destroyed. Each house had the shape and structure of a gigantic koopa shell, with a couple windows and a wooden door. Several yellow sidewalks and paths stretched out as far as the eye can see, almost up to the horizon. Green trees flourished in the middle of the grassy yards.

"Looks like they all evacuated. What the hell?" Falcon stupidly stated.

Fox rolled his eyes. "Thank you for giving us that information, Captain Obvious."

Jigglypuff giggled while Luigi sighed. "Let's get going to the X-Naut base first then," said Luigi.

"Wait," said Falcon. "There's some dude watching us. I can feel it." He stopped the other smashers from walking on towards the looming X-Naut base.

There was complete silence, the only things heard were the rustling of leaves.

Fox immediately whirled around with his blaster and fired into the bushes aside, causing a familiar person to jump out.

"Yeah, you're definitely the smashers," said Mario, walking up to the smashers. "Not some idiotic duplighosts with no reflexes that copied you guys." Luigi coughed loudly after that statement.

"We faced one a while ago, but he was a piece of cake," said Fox, smiling.

"It's nice to see you again, Mario!" said Jigglypuff.

Falcon simply grunted, as Mario was another one of his 'big rivals.'

Mario looked at Luigi. "Luigi!" he cried. Luigi smiled as they both gave each other a brotherly hug.

"I just came back from my vacation at the exact moment the X-Nauts attacked," said Mario.

"So you were right!" said Jigglypuff.

"About what?" asked Luigi.

"About how trouble always happens whenever Mario takes a step out of the kingdom."

"Oh. Right. Yeah."

"You guys are just in time," started Mario. "In a couple hours, we're all heading out to infiltrate the X-Naut base. We've been planning it out for a week."

"What happened to all the villagers?" asked Fox.

"Princess Peach initialized an immediate evacuation the moment we heard about the X-Nauts. They're all safe in Star Haven… at least for the moment. If we don't take care of Grodus, then they'll be back in danger in a couple days."

"So Grodus is back?" asked Luigi.

Mario nodded. "And many familiar enemies too. Lord Crump was the one who tried to start the execution of me and Yoshi, along with Marilyn, Beldam, and Doopliss. Peach and I made a hypothesis that made lots of sense: Grodus is back with the Endowment of Exigency."

"What the hell?" cried Falcon. "Is he a new member of the Ring of Darkness or something?"

Mario raised an eyebrow. "You guys have more stuff to tell me about your enemies, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, lots," said Fox. "We learned a lot, but we took out just about half of the entire Ring. A couple weeks ago, we tried to take out four top members…"

Mario frowned. "I'm guessing it didn't go too well…"

"Hell no, we all got our asses kicked," said Falcon. "I swear I'm going to give Wolf an ass beating he's never going to forget!"

"And I need to find the weakness in Black Shadow's abilities," said Jigglypuff.

"They're definitely no joke," said Fox. "We completely underestimated them."

"Mm…" Luigi said, unable to add anything else.

"But I think this week of training was our best," explained Jigglypuff. "I think we're more than ready to stand a chance against them."

"Well let's get inside our hidden base before the X-Nauts show up, then you can tell me everything," said Mario. "Come on, I'll lead the way."

* * *

After getting together with Princess Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and the others (except for Link and Ganondorf, they're still spying), the smashers told Mario everything they knew about the Ring of Darkness. 

While Fox and Jigglypuff were telling Mario everything, Luigi sat in the corner and slept while Captain Falcon talked with everyone that he didn't see for a long time.

"Yoshi! Kong dude!" he cried, smiling at the green dinosaur and the brown ape. "It's been years, dude!"

Yoshi smiled warmly at Falcon while giving a nice smile as Donkey Kong walked up to Falcon and gave him a fierce slap on the back.

"OW! SHIT!" Falcon screamed, holding his back in pain. He sped around DK and slapped him on the back as well, though it didn't do much.

"I missed doing that to you," said DK, smiling as well. "My greeting first time I see you each day at the mansion."

"Damn it! How many times did I tell you not to do that?"

"Every time I did that to you," DK replied smartly.

"Gr… FALCON… PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!"

DK read Falcon like a book and rolled out of the way, resulting with the punch striking Bowser.

_Uh oh…_

Bowser was pounded into the wall, though he immediately jumped back to fighting position. "OKAY, WHO ON THIS FUCKING WORLD DID THAT?"

DK pointed at Falcon while Falcon pointed at DK. DK rolled his eyes.

"Of course I used a Falcon punch and screamed out Falcon Punch while hitting you, my fists are very, very capable of setting themselves on fire," DK sarcastically replied.

As angry as he was (at the moment), Bowser was unable to detect the sarcasm. He immediately roared as he released his breath of fire on DK, setting him on fire.

Meanwhile, Peach was sitting by Luigi. "Luigi, you sure you don't need anything to eat?" she kindly offered. "You're awfully more quiet than usual, even if you are more quiet than your brother… which is saying a lot."

Luigi shook his head. "I'm just a bit tired, just wake me when we're about to head for the base and infiltrate it. We need all the rest."

Peach placed her hands on her hips. "Come on! It's been months since you've seen Mario and me, years since you've seen the others! You have to be enthusiastic about it!"

Luigi shook his head. "Nah, it's okay…"

"Then it's settled," said Mario. He stood up, clearing his throat. He began to speak loudly as the leader of the group. "Everyone, we're going to call back Link and Ganondorf. The moment they come back, we form a quick plan with them for a few minutes then infiltrate the X-Naut's base. We can't waste a single minute."

* * *

"Look here, brother! It looks like we're struck dead treasure!" 

"Yeah, because the princess's castle definitely has bunches of riches for us to take!"

"No idea why it's all crumbled down. Damn it! I can't lift this damn boulder up! It's so damn heavy!"

"You're just weak. I already found a nice wardrobe that we can sell for lots of money!"

"Really? Well I'm going to start with these boulders. Ouch! Finally, I got that!"

"Hmph. Let me do it for you. …What the heck? These boulders are light!"

"That's because you have the muscles, big brother!"

"Yes, yes, I do! Put it all in our treasure stash though!"

"But I wonder, why her castle is in rubble?"

"It doesn't matter, nobody's around, so the treasure is ours for the taking!"

"Hey! Drop that boulder! I see this weird purple guy!"

"You're not talking about yourself, are you?"

"Nope, not at all big brother! This guy looks more like a purple shadow! He can tell us about what happened!"

"You're as dimwitted as ever! Treasure comes first!"

"We can add him to our team, big brother."

"…Well let's take him back then, see what he can do after he gains consciousness. Pick him up, Waluigi."

"I can't, your muscles are a lot more stronger than mines! They're even stronger than Mario!"

"Gwah ha ha! Definitely!"

"So I'll leave him to you then, Wario!"

* * *

"So how many more minutes until the X-cannon is ready to fire on them, Grodus?" 

"I'm guessing in around two hours it'll be completely ready, Crump."


	49. Chapter 49: Clumsy Treasure Hunters!

Hack: Another chapter, things are finally starting up! A couple side stories and introductions first, just to give a hint as to who the smashers will be meeting in future chapters. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 49: Clumsy Treasure Hunters! **

Pherae was a medieval nation, one allied with others such as Ostia. In these nations, people used swords, magic, bows, and such to fight rather than fists.

It's no coincidence that Marth and Roy fought with Swords if they came from the same planet.

"What's wrong, Roy?" asked Lowen, the green-armored paladin. "You seem a bit distanced right now."

Roy sighed, then pointed up at a distant island in the horizon. "You see the Dread Isle?" he said. "I've never seen it so… gloomy."

"You mean gloomier than usual?"

"Yeah… Definitely. And it's not just today, I've been noticing it for weeks… no, months. I need to tell my father about it and then assemble my army to head there."

"Are you sure you want to do that so quickly?" asked Wolt, one of Roy's best friends and an archer by his side. "Making rash decisions like that surely isn't the best choice."

"No, I'm sure there's been something going on there, and I'm going to find out. Come on, men, we're heading back to the castle."

* * *

_Magic… A universal way of releasing the energy within. This is the most I need those powers now ever since the time Palutena sent me to defeat the Orcos and release the three sacred treasures_

Pit, the leader of the Icarus Army, held his bow straight towards the army of Wire Frames ahead of the palace. He fired several energy arrows at once, dispatching several of his enemies at once.

Pit dressed like a Greek warrior, he wore white, saggy robes and brown sandals on his feet. He bore white wings of an angel that allowed him to fly at will. His blue eyes and brown hair distinguished him from the other soldiers, who are all much older than him. What's most noticeable was his golden bow and the quiver that was strapped around his shoulder.

"What are these people?" he asked Palutena, the goddess of Angel Land. "I've been out on a mission for weeks and when I returned today, I found myself defending the palace from these… unknown enemies."

"I have no idea, Pit," she replied. "They simply came out of nowhere. That's why we needed you. I'm assigning a new mission for you, Pit."

"…Tell me."

"This will be the first time you leave this world. You know well that there is a grand universe, with even more planets other than Angel Land, right?"

"Yes."

"I need you to head out and find out who these enemies are. Who sent them, and why."

"…Simple enough, but it will take more than a week."

"Exactly. We also need help. Seek help from others in this universe…"

"Okay. I will do it."

* * *

"SHIP'S CONDITION: 12 PERCENT. WILL NOT SURVIVE NEXT COLLISION IMPACT OF FIRE," an intercom stated. 

A small man with miniscule eyes and an enlarged, round nose drove the Dolphin, his favored ship. The Dolphin was a small ship used to fly through space. The man wore a white suit and a transparent helmet, which had an antennae attached to it. At the end of the electronic antennae was a glimmering red light. His head was enormous in comparison with his tiny body.

The man himself was Captain Olimar, scientist, employee, and hero of the Hocotate Frigate. It was a long-haul shipping company that shipped freight through long distances in space. Years ago, Olimar had crashed onto an unknown planet, and his suit would not survive through the planet's atmosphere after thirty days. Even worse, he couldn't leave as the Dolphin had lost thirty parts. However, the day he crashed, he discovered a new life form: Pikmin. These energetic yet endangered creatures did everything he told them to do, and when in large numbers, were extremely powerful. With Pikmin power and his leadership abilities, Olimar successfully recovered the ship parts.

Pikmin looked like tiny human-like plants, distinguished differently by color. On their head was a stem ending with a leaf, bud, or flower. They had tiny hands and legs, but they were really quite powerful. Red Pikmin had a sharp beak-like nose, yellow Pikmin had the ears of an elephant, blue Pikmin had gills in their mouths, white Pikmin were tiny and bore red eyes (also poisonous), and purple Pikmin were fat, slow, and heavy, but they were extremely powerful.

After Olimar returned to the Hocotate Frigate site, his company was in debt as pikpik carrots were lost in one mission. As a result, the company owed ten thousand pokos (the currency)! Olimar and his partner, Louie, were both sent back to the Pikmin world to salvage the treasures on it with the Pikmin's help. They successfully repayed the debt.

This was four years ago. Olimar was currently in a cruise flight back home, relaxing with his favorite music when bolts of lightning were suddenly fired at him. The Dolphin's shields were instantly dramatically reduced to near zero, and things were looking VERY gloom for Captain Olimar.

_Where is that disastrous laser emanating from?_

Olimar constantly looked around himself in hopes of seeing his attacker, so he can avoid him. Unfortunately, he couldn't. The Dolphin was simply a freight ship, so it was completely unarmed.

_I hope my wife doesn't kill me again for getting into trouble for the millionth time…_ He thought as he spotted a familiar planet before him.

"It's time to visit my fellow Pikmin…" Olimar steered his ship around in hopes of avoiding another laser, but his shields were brought down to zero and the Dolphin took a direct blow.

* * *

Five years. It finally took the entire village of Vale to completely rebuild it into the village it was. Five years ago, it was completely destroyed after all four lighthouses of Alchemy were lit, unleashing Alchemy itself. Vale was the village protecting the Sol Sanctum, the mountain where the Golden Sun was lit at its peak. If Alchemy wasn't unleashed, however, the world would crumble without any of it to support it. 

At least in theory, a group of heroes believed and learned.

Recently, in the past couple weeks, Isaac the hero of Weyard noticed near the horizon of Vale that Sol Sanctum was acting strangely. It has been an inactive volcano until the four stars of Alchemy were unleashed, and it became completely inactive again after the Golden Sun was formed.

So by acting strangely, I mean it has been acting not so inactive. The volcano didn't literally erupt as of now, yet it has sent a couple pieces of rocks and debris out from its peak, something an inactive volcano doesn't do very often.

"Did you notice anything strange about the volcano, Garet?" Isaac asked to his red-haired (and extremely hot-tempered) friend.

"Why should we be worrying about that right now?" replied Jenna, a carefree but also hot-tempered girl, another one of Isaac's good friends.

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

* * *

Now we finally return to Mushroom Kingdom… 

Luigi woke up with a start. When he opened his eyes and sat up from his bed, rays of light shone in from the window.

_Am I in heaven?_

He looked at his hands and immediately denied that thought, as they were still purple shadows. That Duplighost had still got his identity.

So if the castle crumbled… Where the heck was he?

His question was answered the moment the door opened. Two familiar figures walked in, chattering about… treasure?

Both men resembled Mario and Luigi, with an evil presence around them. The shorter, fatter one (who was MUCH fatter than Mario) bore a yellow hat and violet overalls. The muscles bulging through his arms signified that he was extremely. He was also much slower, though. This is the man we all know as Mario's rival: Wario.

The other man that resembled more closely to Luigi was extremely tall and thin, but really lanky too. Rather than wearing green and blue clothing, he wore purple clothing with a black overall on top. His thin arms and legs showed that he was extremely weak, but his extreme height was very useful in some situations. This man, the total converse of Wario, is known as Waluigi.

"You're awake, little punk?" Wario ejaculated from his mouth loudly, his zig-zaggy mustache twitching. "Great, because you owe us for saving your life back there."

"I did something…" Waluigi muttered but Wario ignored him.

"Wait, what happened, Wario?" asked Luigi.

"Hmph, thanks for knowing us, we're pretty famous around here," said Wario.

_Oh, right… They don't know it's me… Might as well take advantage of it. I'm still really surprised about them saving me, I never thought they'd save someone…_

_But it'd obviously come at a price._

"Well what happened? How did I get here?" asked Luigi.

"We found you in the rubble at Peach's castle," explained Waluigi. "I have no damn idea how it broke down though… We didn't even find any stinkin' treasure."

"Oh yeah, you guys love treasure…"

"You really know lots about us, little punk," exclaimed Wario. "We don't even let out that much information about us famous beings. Who the heck are you and why are you all purple?"

"My name is…" Luigi's mouth was suddenly stitched together. He attempted to say his name once again and tried to pry his mouth open, but to no avail.

_Right… My identity's stolen, I can't say my name… How about I say I'm Mario's brother?_

His mouth was still stitched together. Luigi sighed as his mouth melted from its stitched condition.

"What the hell just happened? You were just randomly mumbling crap!" cried Waluigi.

Luigi sighed again. "Well… I'm like this because this Duplighost stole my identity. I can't say who I am, or anything in relevance with that. I want to hunt him down and get it back."

"Holy shit!" cried Wario. "I never knew Duplighosts could do that! Those wusses could only just copy people, right?"

"I guess this guy was special… I also need to know his name to defeat him."

"But we gotta take care of our business first, little punk. I'm calling you that from now on, punk, all right?"

Luigi shrugged. "I honestly don't give a…"

"All right, we're hiding in this deserted fortress right now… Koopa Fortress, it's called? We've already raided this area and the deserted village, but there's one more place around the Pleasant Path that we want to raid."

Wario pointed at the window, at the huge X-Naut base near the horizon. "That place looks like it's got a bunch of damn riches!"

Waluigi shook his head. "It won't be easy though, it looks occupied."

"No duh!" Wario whacked Waluigi on the head. "That's why we need the little punk! He must be strong to survive that Peach's castle shit!"

"We're headed for the X-Naut base?" Luigi blurted out. "That's great! The Duplighost must be there!"

"Really? That's good for both of us then," said Wario. "The sun is setting, so in about an hour it should be evening. When the sun disappears, we'll rush in."

"Wait, don't you think you're being a bit reckless, big brother?" asked Waluigi.

Wario shook his head. "I've been planning it for today. I'm sure that place is worth it, think about the treasure!"

Luigi glanced up at Wario. _I never knew he was like this… He always seemed like he wanted to show off._

_Maybe only to me and my brother… He might be a nice guy actually._

"Well I'm a strong guy," said Luigi. "I'm sure we'd get through pretty well."

"I want you to do everything I tell you to do," started Wario. "You owe us our lives, so we expect you to help us. You got it, little punk?"

Luigi nodded. "Got it."

* * *

"We're back!" cried (Young) Link as he and Ganondorf walked through the door. The entire cast of Nintendo characters smiled warmly. 

"Great!" replied Mario, clapping his hands. "Where's the best place to hit the X-Nauts and when are there no guards?"

"We should get going now," said Ganondorf. "It's a ten minute walk from here, and that's when the guards at the most vulnerable entry point are gone."

"Wow, you really did a good job spying!" praised Peach, smiling.

"No, he's serious," said Link. "If we want any chance of getting in as soon as possible, we leave right now. The next chance we have will happen in four hours, and we don't have that time."

There was complete silence. After a minute passed, everyone stood up, ready to leave.

Captain Falcon smirked. "So we're ready for another infiltration, right?"

"S'pose so," replied Fox. "I'm guessing we have to go silently then."

"I have a really bad feeling about this…" said Luigi.

"You were never this pessimistic, Luigi. What's wrong?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Nothing."

"Oh yeah," started Mario. "You'll have to shut up Bowser, because we'll all have to be quiet, knowing how loud noise you make."

"Don't you think I fucking know that?" roared Bowser. Everyone laughed.

After another minute, everyone rushed out silently through the darkness. At the same time, Wario, Waluigi, and Luigi were sneaking their way through Pleasant Path, towards the not-so-hidden X-Naut Base.

* * *

Ten minutes passed when Mario, Fox, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Luigi (fake), Peach, and the rest were by the entrance, led by Link and Ganondorf. As they predicted, no guards were there. 

They wouldn't be there anyways because on the other side of the base were Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. Stupid as Wario was, he began a huge commotion.

"Not the best way to infiltrate a base, big brother…" commented Wario, facing an army of thousands of tiny X-Nauts, all glaring up at them with glasses, carrying laser guns.

Luigi sighed. _Why me…_

* * *

Meanwhile inside the base…. 

"Grodus, one more hour left until we fire the death ray," said Lord Crump.

"Excellent… The mirror in the sky is ready? You know that the cannon can only shoot at an upward angle, so we need a mirror to deflect it back down upon Mushroom Kingdom."

"Yes, Grodus."

"My plan will not fail this time… Moments before we fire it, we escape on the Halberd. That should take away a thorn in the side."

"Buh-huh-huh-huh… Yeah, that'll really work! But anyways, security found three suspicious people, obviously intruders, on the east gate of the base. They're confronting them right now, and want your orders. Should I command them to attack?"

"Three suspicious figures? Give me details."

"They strangely resemble Mario and Luigi, at least two of them. The fat one is yellow and the tall, lanky one wears violet. The third person, we have no clue who that is. Just some random purple blob, I guess."

"Fine. But do not take command, we need you. Don't use the entire battalion, only the defense."

Another raspy voice was heard through Crump's walkie-talkie. "They…They've already attacked! We've already lost half of our forces!"

"What the hell?" Grodus blurted out. "I mean… What? You're crazy!"

"Over four thousand casualties already! And still counting! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" A zap was heard and the walkie-talkie went static.

"Hello?" said Crump. "You guys there? Yeah, I think you might want to attack now."

Another X-Naut seemed to have picked up the walkie-talkie outside the base. "No really?"

KZAP! KABOOM!

The walkie-talkie shut down, signifying that the other side was destroyed. Crump grumbled. "Just when our real plan was about to come in action… Buh-huh-huh… I'll take them out."

Grodus held out a hand. "Save yourself, we have several others that are capable of taking out our enemies. I highly doubt that Mario isn't involved with this…"

"Then we shall use a mini electric ray gun on them?"

"Fine. Tell the guards to be ready to escape, because the explosion radius isn't exactly small."

* * *

Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi were fighting for their lives as a result of Wario's clumsy plan. The X-Nauts attacking them were miniscule, about half the height of Wario. However, considering that the three were completely outnumbered a million to one… 

Luigi looked up to see a satellite lift itself from the edge of the top of the base. It turned to face the three. Wario and Waluigi also noticed that the X-Nauts soldiers were… retreating!

The satellite fired a humongous beam of electricity, directly at the three thieves!

"HOLY SHIT!!!" Wario screamed.

"There's no way we can escape, big brother!" cried Waluigi.

"Do something, little punk!"

Luigi changed his gloves to his supposedly green gloves, which were still violet. _It looks like electricity to me…_

_Why not? There's not much else I could do…_

Luigi held up his shadowy hands and pointed his palms at the approaching violet beam. He activated them and attempted to absorb the entire beam…


	50. Chapter 50: Luigi's Heavy Burden

Hack: Chapter Fifty! Oh yeah! The grand half-way point of the story! Or about, I think.

And to answer one of your questions, I'm not taking Super Smash Brothers Brawl into account.

Well anyways, enjoy! Hope you're all anticipating what's happening with Pit and Captain Olimar…

* * *

**Chapter 50: Luigi's Heavy Burden**

"This is really convenient…" commented Fox. "There's absolutely nobody here."

The technology in the X-Naut base was phenomenal… or at least in comparison with the atmosphere outside the base. Doors didn't have doorknobs, they slide open instead whenever they sensed anyone near them. The base extended down underground for four sublevels, and the X-Nauts and the smashers accessed them via the cylindrical elevators, zooming up and down.

Of course, what Fox meant by nobody, he means nobody capable of fighting. Indeed, various blue-clothed minute X-Nauts were rushing around, carrying bottles of potions and such. All of the smashers and heroes simply smacked them aside as they walked by. They continuously followed the boring hallways, occasionally checking the doors on the sides.

Mario concluded that all of the doors on the sides of the hallway would not lead to Grodus; they simply lead to random labs for experimentation.

Eventually, Captain Falcon, Fox, Jigglypuff, Luigi (fake), Mario, Bowser, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, (Young) Link, and Ganondorf reached the end of a hallway, splitting off into four different doors.

"Why does this stuff always happen?" cried Falcon.

Mario shrugged. "I suppose we'll have to split up."

Bowser pounded his hands together. "Great. I prefer to work in smaller groups."

Peach nodded in agreement. "I hate to admit it, but I honestly don't really like working with a large group either…"

Luigi pointed at the door on the far right. "I'll be heading that way. Mario, you want to come with me?"

Mario smiled. "Of course," he said.

"Hey! No fair!" cried Falcon. "I want to be with Luigi, my home-dog!"

"What, don't like us at all?" Jigglypuff joked.

"That's not what I meant!"

"I know what you mean," said Fox.

Mario started again. "Well I think it's best if we three are together then. Ganondorf, Donkey Kong, and Link can work together while Bowser and Peach can be paired. Luigi, Yoshi, and I'll be a triplet."

"Are you sure Bowser and Peach work well?" Link whispered jokingly near Mario's ear.

"You might be surprised," Mario whispered back. "They fight better than me and Peach. They can handle their own."

Luigi pointed at the door to the far right. "You wanna go that way then, brother?" he asked.

Mario smiled. _It's been a while since he called me that…_

"Yep."

"Are you going to use _that_?" Falcon asked Fox. "I saw your training with Krystal, and your staff is… damn! Sexy!"

Fox grinned. "I think I might actually stand a chance against Metaknight with it. I'm not using it here, though… Waste of energy when we'll be invading the Halberd after this ordeal. It's no big secret what your new abilities are…"

"Damn straight, it's to show off, man. Show off to the gals, dude."

Everyone, including Jigglypuff and not including Falcon himself, rolled his or her eyes.

So the group split apart eventually, hoping that at least one of them will find Grodus and defeat him.

Far left: Link, Ganondorf, DK

Mid left: Bowser, Peach

Mid right: Fox, Falcon, Jigglypuff

Far right: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi

Over the camera, Grodus was watching Luigi's group.

"Well, Doopliss, you have done a good job. All of them will be eliminated except for Mario and Yoshi. And I've got quite a few plans for them… You better be up for the job, you're my best man. I want to torture Mario… No, I don't want to kill him yet. I want to torture him beyond death. I want him to experience emotional pain…

It's personal now. My plan will not fail."

* * *

It didn't take much time until Luigi finally realized that the energy ray contained far too much electricity for even him to absorb. 

Why? The beam carries over a hundred times more voltage than the maximum voltage capacity in Luigi's absorption gloves!

_Shit… I have no other choice._ Luigi thought as he glanced forward at the beam about to end his life, and Wario and Waluigi's.

Luigi instantly kneeled down, changing his boots. He quickly grabbed Waluigi and Wario's arms and jumped…

Yes, this isn't a normal jump. This is a super-de-duper jump, an extremely fast jump, one that caused Luigi to jump a mile (literally) and carrying the two Wario brothers with him. Before the ray struck the ground, there was a deep create in it, signifying that Luigi's boots gave some hidden force and pressure.

Not wanting to tell his enemies what abilities he had now, he immediately changed his boots in mid air while tossing Wario and Waluigi into the air. He was also extremely tired from carrying Wario's insane weight.

The moment the ray collided with the ground, there was a big huge blue explosion.

It wasn't a very big explosion, but big enough to clear a section of the Pleasant Path nearby. The explosion cleared out quickly, allowing the three thieves to land safely… which was an overstatement. Wario landed clumsily on his bottom while Waluigi landed with his body tangled up.

"Get back up, you guys!" cried Luigi. "We have to break in while they think we're dead!"

Wario groaned. "Did my role of leader suddenly switch to the little punk?"

"Yes, big brother, it did. Even I noticed that."

Wario groaned more.

* * *

Pit the Angel Commander flied through outer space, beginning his mission assigned by Palutena. He left Angel Land over a day ago and flew through, without food, water, or sleep. He carried his trusty bow everywhere, as he was attacked for what seemed like every minute. 

"I think the problem's been spreading everywhere…" he muttered to himself as he slaughtered another ship with a sniped arrow shot. "And not a planet for sight… I'm beginning to think this mission was pointless, as everyone else is probably suffering just as much."

Suddenly, a red laser beam struck his right wing, burning a hole through it. Pit yelped in pain as he whirled around to see another ship in a far off distance. It managed to snip off another part of his left wing before he fired another arrow, blowing up the ship miles away.

Pit turned around again to see a planet in sight. "A Planet!" he cried. But before he could fly towards it, another beam crippled both of his wings. Unable to take control of his flight, Pit began to fall towards that unknown planet. At least he wasn't just floating in space, defenseless.

_Ugh! If only if I kept my guard up and brought my shield! But it'd take three times as long if I brought it… Well I can finish my mission if I land there…Is that a small ship I see falling towards that planet? It seems to say Dolphin too…_

* * *

"…Did you hear someone scream?" asked Mario. 

Yoshi stopped walking with Luigi on his back. "Yeah… But we should still move on."

"Probably your imagination," replied Luigi. "I didn't hear anything."

"…Right. Let's go." Mario opened the door at the end of the empty hallway to find themselves in an enormous glass dome.

"Wow!" all three exclaimed. It was absolutely enormous, it was a wonder how the X-Nauts built it underground. It looked like a battlefield inside the glass dome. Rather than seeing walls of dirt outside the glass, the X-Nauts' technology allowed it to look like they were in a beautiful tropical forest, with palm trees leaning forward and rain splattering on every inch of the dome.

Luigi smiled. _This is my best, Grodus… Hope you can take care of the rest._

On the other side was a door that just opened. It was opened by Wario, Waluigi, and the real Luigi.

For convenience, since we know the duplighost's name, I'm going to call the fake Luigi (disguised as real Luigi) Doopliss and the real Luigi (who is the shadow guy) Luigi. Just keep this in mind.

There was silence as Mario and Yoshi just noticed their presence, glaring at Wario and Waluigi, who glared back.

"Why the hell are YOU here? I want answers, damn it! What did you do with my treasure?" Wario interrogated.

"Same for you. We're here to kill Grodus, while you cowards are just scavenging the entire base like a bunch of pathetic waiters," Mario cruelly replied.

"You little…"

Wario lunged at Mario, who was prepared. He simply side stepped and fired several fireballs at him. Wario stood his ground and took the blow, but was completely unfazed.

There was a loud alarm noise and a television set appeared in the room, hanging from the ceiling. "Mario!" Grodus appeared on the TV. "So glad you're here to defeat me."

"Grodus!" everyone gasped except Luigi.

"Seems like my inside worker has done my job, as all of your friends are trapped…"

"What inside worker?" asked Mario. Doopliss pointed at Luigi, the shadow guy.

"Who, this guy?" asked Wario. "He's done nothing but help us!"

"Doopliss!" cried Mario.

"What the hell? I'm not Doopliss!" cried Luigi. "What do you think you're doing, Mario?"

"Stop playing tricks with me."

Grodus chuckled. _Wait until he finds out he kills his own brother… Right before the real Doopliss leads him into my trap._ He pressed a button and a cage with a powerful force field appeared. Everyone else was in it: Fox, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Link, DK, and Ganondorf were trapped in it.

"I told you, there's no way I can get out! I can't even use teleport!" cried Jigglypuff.

"Mario! Get us out of here!" cried Peach.

"…Grodus, is it all because of me? You want to kill all of these people to get to me?" Mario said.

"Gwah ha ha! Excellent, you catch on quickly! But I might release these people if you kill those three… And I'll release the locks in this room as you're all trapped."

"We have to kill them?" asked Yoshi, pointing at Wario, Waluigi, and Luigi. "But we've just been bitter rivals, nothing more."

"What the hell? Mario ain't a killer!" cried Wario.

"Believe what you will, if you want to become a killer of your rivals Mario… It's the only choice you have to survive and help your friends. If not, it's down with all of your lives…" said Grodus.

Luigi looked at Mario. _The first time I've seen Mario for a long time, and we have to fight each other to the death… I can't even say who I am…_

"Mario…"

"Don't say anything, Doopliss. I know your plans, and they won't work on me again!" cried Mario.

"No!"

Grodus cackled as the television set turned off and disappeared. Everyone trapped in the force field was jeering and giving Mario, Yoshi, and Doopliss encouragement.

"Kick his fucking ass! Get that Duplighost's ass!" cried Falcon.

"Mario, you're our only chance!" said Fox.

"Come on, Mario!"

"Die you clone!"

"You clone, you better run when I get out…"

Doopliss was in shock. _My name has just been mentioned… That means my protection from Luigi is gone._

_But it might be a good thing… Mario and Yoshi might get suspicious if I'm suddenly invincible against that Luigi…_

His frown turned upside-down into a smile. Things were turning out good for him… He was protected by Mario and Yoshi, there's no way he can lose.

"Wario…" said Mario. "Waluigi… I'm sorry, but this is the only choice I have."

"What the hell?" cried Waluigi. "I told you this was a bad idea, pressing the big red button!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Wario angrily retorted.

"Yoshi, Luigi, let's go!" cried Mario.

Yoshi pulled out two feathers and tossed them to the Mario brothers (Doopliss), giving both of them capes. "Be prepared to die!" Yoshi cried.

The impossible had happened to Luigi. It was either him or his brother, and the first time they saw each other for a long time. And Mario didn't even know it was him…

The only way he could win is if he defeated Doopliss and showed that he was the real deal. And he didn't want Wario or Waluigi to die… _They were good people at heart. Although they were rivals with Mario and me, they definitely don't deserve to die. No, not even close._

Luigi has a heavy burden to carry on his back…

_Damn it! It's driving me so crazy! Why this? Just fucking why? First, Mario almost dies on me against Cackletta, then Ganondorf almost dies on me while I fought Veran, then I failed to help Samus against Vaati, then I failed in protecting Pikachu and Samus from Mewtwo, Alakazam, and Nidoking, then I lose my foot against Leon, then Samus deceives us…_

_Now this? Mario is trying to kill me… Yoshi… Fox, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff want me to die… I can't forget Samus shooting me on the Starwolf mothership too. I can't trust anyone…_

_A decision between the universe, my brother, my rivals, my friends…_

_My life._

_If only I was careful… if only I didn't fall for Doopliss's tricks… If only if I formed a stronger bond with my friends…_

_Why must I be given a challenge to hurdle over? Falco's suicide is nothing, ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING compared to this… Damn it. Why can't destiny give me something easy for once?_

_Why can't something go right for me for once?_

_Damn it all…_

Luigi's veins pumped and his heart was beating unusually fast. Indeed, the outcome of this entire fight, and the entire mission fell on his shoulders. No, the outcome of the _universe_ fell on his shoulders.


	51. Chapter 51: Shadows Revealed

Hack: All right, I can't think of a good scheme for this fight, so it probably won't impress you as much as Samus vs. Vaati or Fox vs. Falco. No, not even close. Probably the worst fight chapter I've written… Well there's more plot than action anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter. But chances are, you'll be a bit disappointed.

But anyways, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 51: Shadows Revealed**

"Damn… I feel really sorry for him…" said Spekkio in the End of Time.

Gaspar nodded. "Indeed. Luigi is carrying a heavy burden on his back. His decisions and actions will determine the fate of him, the Wario brothers, all of his friends, his enemies, and the entire universe. I don't want to see what's going on in his head…"

"And to think what's going to happen when they enter the Halberd…"

"You do know that only I can see the near future, not anywhere near a week later."

"Right. I know. But everyone's going to be fighting eventually… Like crazy in the X-Naut base. And the smashers won't get a break from their injuries when they enter the Halberd to fight the Ring of Darkness…"

"Luigi will be worst off. He will come amazingly close to death, then he will face off against the psyenergy wielder. I cannot see what the outcome of that battle is… Even worse, he carries another heavy burden when he faces off against him."

"…Ouch. I wish I could do something…"

"We dwellers of the End of Time are not allowed to interfere with the real world. We can only hope."

"What about Vivian?"

"She is not a dweller of the End of Time, remember. Although she has a strong connection with it, she hails from Rogueport."

"Ah… Well I suspect another fight after Luigi fights Alex… An eternal one, one that will decide the fate of the universe… One that will decide Samus's fate."

"Yes…"

"Ouch… Four big fights in a row. I REALLY don't want to see Luigi after these ordeals…"

* * *

Luigi is the shadow one, the real Luigi. The fake Luigi, who is disguised, will be referred to as Doopliss. 

Yoshi threw his outrageously long red tongue at Luigi, who wavedashed to the side to avoid it. Unfortunately, Wario was right behind him and Yoshi's powerful tongue dragged him across the ground.

Waluigi grabbed Wario's shoulders with his feeble arms in an attempt to bring him back, but as weak as his arms were, Wario was dragged towards Yoshi. Doopliss came out of nowhere and kicked Waluigi off of Wario, allowing Yoshi to swallow the heavy man.

A large spotted green egg popped out of Yoshi's behind, with Wario trapped inside it.

Mario ran towards Luigi while firing red fireballs, who wavedashed to the side again, still facing Mario. Luigi turned his head towards Doopliss, who was facing off with Waluigi. Unfortunately, Wario was still stuck in the egg, so Yoshi and Doopliss teamed up on the weaker Waluigi.

_Since I know his name, I should be able to hurt him… If I defeat Doopliss, everything should work out._

Waluigi took out a tennis racket as his melee weapon and swung it around at his two foes. "What the hell are you doing, you double-teaming freakos?"

Luigi fired several violet fireballs toward Doopliss, who jumped away from them and Waluigi. He immediately chased after Doopliss with his thick legs, slowly catching up with him.

Yoshi attempted to grab Waluigi again with his tongue, but Waluigi's long legs came to use. He stomped on the tip of Yoshi's tongue with his right foot, sending waves of pain through his tongue and his entire mouth. Waluigi took this moment to pin Yoshi's tongue on the ground with his right leg and used his range with his left leg to kick Yoshi in the nose, pushing him farther back. Yoshi felt his tongue stretched even farther out, very painfully.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!" Yoshi cried. He finally felt his tongue come back in his mouth as Mario threw his giant fist into Waluigi's head, slightly cracking his skull. Waluigi released his right foot on Yoshi's tongue as he was knocked back several feet, groaning in pain.

Wario finally freed himself from Yoshi's egg, but Doopliss landed a powerful kick on Luigi's chest, sending him flying into Wario. Luigi felt his head painfully bonk on Wario's rock-hard stomach, as if he just banged his head on steel. Wario himself felt the force of Luigi vibrate through his entire body, pushing him onto his back.

Mario was totally murdering Waluigi, who could do nothing except hope that his tennis racket could block a few attacks. Mario began his onslaught with an upward punch, knocking Waluigi into the air a few feet. He immediately short hopped and performed a ground-level aerial flip kick, kicking Waluigi lightly in the face. Mario landed and immediately jumped again, landing his powerful fist into Waluigi's back, breaking his back and knocking him into the ground. This attack was so powerful that there was a huge crack where Waluigi laid.

Mario wasn't finished yet, though. He crouched and stuck his leg out to knock Waluigi into the air again, then used his powerful break dancing attack to send him flying to the side. Mario wavedashed several times towards the almost-unconscious Waluigi and held his hand out in front of Waluigi's face. A small fiery explosion emerged from Mario's right hand, setting Waluigi on fire and plowing him into the electrical barrier, which shocked him relentlessly.

Unaware of Waluigi getting his ass kicked by Mario, Luigi and Wario got back on their feet and charged at Doopliss and Yoshi.

"Give me back my body, damn it!" Luigi cried.

"I don't have any clue what you're talking about, you already tried to steal mine, Doopliss!" lied Doopliss. Yoshi looked completely confused for a second, then focused on the fight again.

Wario grabbed Yoshi's hands and wrestled each other in a match of strength. Both grunted as they each attempted to push each other to the ground.

_Damn, this dinosaur is strong… I can't believe he's keeping up with my strength, that little squeak…_ Wario thought. Suddenly, Yoshi's tongue came out of nowhere and slapped Wario's face. It only stung a little, so not much pain was inflicted. However, Wario released his grasp on Yoshi's hands, putting him in a state of vulnerability briefly.

This was all the time Yoshi needed. Yoshi lifted his body into the air, directly above Wario. He threw his entire body onto Wario's face with a fierce ground pound attack, sending Wario several feet away. Yoshi threw three well-aimed eggs at the flying Wario, each hitting their mark accurately. The collision of each egg resulted with a small bright explosion, singeing Wario's skin wherever they hit.

Doopliss and Luigi faced each other, clones of each other. "Just die, Doopliss! Die like the pathetic being you are!" Doopliss cried as his bloodthirsty eyes turned bright red.

"No damn way," Luigi simply replied. "You don't even know the full potential of my body."

"Oh really?" Doopliss drew a fire shield and an electric sword, looking very intimidating. Luigi immediately wavedashed towards Doopliss and used a sweeping kick during his slide. Doopliss jumped over Luigi, but he predicted this.

Luigi had silently charged a green missile attack the entire fight. He immediately whirled around and fired it, creating a large explosion where his butt used to be. His head collided with Doopliss's back, setting him on fire again. Luigi followed this up with a quick slap with the side of his hand on Doopliss's face, followed by a quick flip kick. He finished his combo on the clone below him with a drill kick into the ground.

Luigi jumped off of Doopliss's body, who was heavily injured now. "So I don't know the full potential of your body? Maybe so… I can't do any of that fancy stuff, you know."

Luigi didn't say anything as he glared at the creature who stole his friends.

"So I can do this!" Doopliss's clothing immediately turned orange. "I know a bit about your new weapons, you know…"

Luigi's eyes widened. _Shit! If he abuses it… Not only will I die… Every single person in this entire world will die under it!_

Doopliss smiled as he saw Luigi's horrified expression. "So it looks like you can't counter your own weapon. Too bad!"

He pointed his open palm at Luigi and released energy. Luigi wavedashed to the side as fast as possible to see a dent in the wall barrier behind him. He had no time to rest, though; Doopliss was firing his attack at Luigi recklessly.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!!!!!!!!!" He screamed as he attempted to crush Luigi into pieces with his unknown weapon.

After half a minute of dodging attacks, Luigi grabbed Doopliss by the collar. "Overusing my new weapon results in weariness. Bet you didn't know that, did you?"

Doopliss struggled to get out of Luigi's grasp and tried to kick him, but his body was completely stunned. It seemed like Luigi was right.

There was only one more thing that Doopliss could do…

"Mario! Help me!" he cried, pretending to beg for help.

Mario held Waluigi on his shoulder as he glared at Doopliss, then he moved his head up. "Go ahead, Luigi. Kill the fake," he said, smiling at the real Luigi.

"Will do." Suddenly, Luigi felt a powerful blow on his back.

"Nice going, Marilyn!" Beldam gave Marilyn a thumbs up as Marilyn punched Luigi in the back of the head. "Looks like our cover's blown, Doopliss. That stupid sneak Mario figured us out."

Doopliss transformed back into his white Duplighost self. "Shoot… I'm going to suffer punishment…"

"Don't worry about it, we still have an hour until the death beam hits…"

Luigi suddenly regained his own body as he looked at himself. "Hey! What gives?" he asked out loud, ignoring the pain from Marilyn's punch on his back.

Suddenly, the cage carrying everyone opened, and every single trapped smasher was dropped to the ground suddenly.

"What the hell? The Luigi we knew was actually that damn Duplighost?" cried Captain Falcon.

"…Oh my god…" muttered Jigglypuff.

Luigi whirled around to Mario. "…Mario…"

Mario shook his head. "Nah, I've been knowing all along. I just decided to hide it for a while, so the enemies will think everything's going their way."

There was silence. "I understand…" Luigi muttered. _Does nobody give a shit about my feelings?_

"Luigi… I'm sorry," said Fox.

Yoshi was in shock after all the attacks he inflicted on Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. "I don't know… What the hell… happened…"

"Don't worry, they're both definitely still alive…" said Mario.

Peach looked around to see the two shadow sirens and the Duplighost gone. She also noticed that the door was open. The alarms suddenly sounded. "Everyone! We have to get out of here!" she cried.

"No kidding!" Link replied as he spotted millions of miniature X-Nauts flooding into the room from one door.

"Everyone! Get around me!" cried Jigglypuff. Everyone looked at her suspiciously. "No time! Hurry up!"

All of the smashers obeyed. Mario, Luigi, Fox, Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Link, and Ganondorf surrounded the pokemon as she muttered, "_Teleport_!"

All eleven people disappeared as the X-Nauts squad finally flooded in.

* * *

"That… was close…" gasped Yoshi. 

"…Fucking X-Nauts…" muttered Bowser.

All of the smashers were outside of the base, with it clearly in view. They were hidden by the forest, but noticed that the entrances were heavily guarded now.

"Luigi…" said Peach. "I never knew…"

Luigi waved a hand at her. "Don't worry about it, we have these idiots to take care of."

"Are you sure?"

_Yes, I'm damn sure, you idiot!_ "Yeah, I'm fine…" Luigi replied calmly.

"I doubt that we'll have an easy time getting back into the base," said Mario. He looked around. "Anyone seen Wario and Waluigi?"

"Saw them run away," Ganondorf replied.

"Figures… They'll probably live, and think of me and Luigi as their rivals again. I doubt they could even beat Bowser though… That's saying something."

"Are you fucking insulting me? I'll kick your fucking ass right now!"

"Everyone, calm down!" cried Luigi. "I heard Beldam talk about this Death Beam in one hour…"

"…Death Beam?" everyone said in sync.

"…Shit," said Mario. "This isn't good. They're probably plotting some world destruction thing…"

"I know. We have to invade again with some caution. I'm assuming you want to take on Grodus?" asked Peach.

"No duh. I'm going to take him out."

"Take me with you," said Luigi.

Mario shunned him. "No. I can't risk allowing you to get killed."

"Mario! You know perfectly well that I'm as strong as you!"

"And as the older brother, I carry the responsibility of taking care of you, Luigi. You could've died if I didn't know about Doopliss. I… don't want something like that to happen again."

"No. I'm going with you and that's final. You know that you'll need me. Nothing is more powerful than our partnership."

Mario paused at the thought.

"Come on, guys!" cried Link. "We can't stop to argue! Look how bored the others are!"

Fox and Captain Falcon were playing rock, paper, scissors. Bowser and DK were bored from giving each other arm wrestling matches, and Jigglypuff was simply sleeping.

"…I have a plan," said Ganondorf. "And my plans always work out. There are four entrances to the X-Naut base, right Mario?"

Mario nodded.

"I have a flawless plan, but Mario you have to let Luigi fight with you… If it works out, we'll win."

* * *

Ten minutes later, at least a dozen X-Naut guards were standing over each and every entrance. 

On the western entrance, they were socializing silently.

"We're supposed to capture the Mario guy, right?" one asked.

"Yeah, but we can kill anyone else. Inspect the intruders first, as Crump told us that they'll probably invade again."

"Blimey… I see someone!"

"Really? I see someone too!"

A yellow cloaked figure was running through the forest and towards the base.

"Oy! Are you Mario?" one X-Naut guard asked.

The cloaked figure said nothing as it charged through several guards. One guard immediately held up a walkie-talkie.

"This is West Guard! East Guard, do you hear me? We found an intruder!"

On the other side of the walkie-talkie, a guard on the East entrance of the base muttered, "Yeah, but we have three over here! The North side said that they have two more! And the South side said that they also have three cloaked intruders!"

"Are they wearing yellow?"

"YES! AHHHHHHH!!!" There was static on the walkie-talkie.

The X-Naut whirled around to see the cloaked figure looking back at him.

"Who are you? Are you Mario?" X-nauts on all entrances asked.

The cloaked figure drew its hood back…

"Nope, we're not Mario," said Jigglypuff on the West Side, Link, Ganondorf, and Fox on the East Side, Yoshi, Peach, and Bowser on the South Side, and DK and Falcon on the North side.

* * *

"You ready, Luigi?" asked Mario. 

"Yeah…" Luigi replied with a sigh. The plan worked. All of the others either killed the guards or lured them into the base, leaving the area cleared for the brothers to go for the main chamber.

"Let's go," said Mario. Luigi followed him into the base and through several mechanical hallways.

"I remember the way to Grodus's room, it shouldn't be very hard to find…" Mario said as he punched in a password on a contral panel. The password opened a door as they both entered a large room with a metal throne-like chair by several control panels. But they couldn't see the chair, as their vision was blocked by…

"Buh huh huh huh huh… Didn't expect me, huh?" Lord Crump taunted as he sat inside a large robot. "Meet the Magnus Von Grapple Version 91.9!"

"…91.9… Isn't that a radio channel?" asked Luigi.

"Shut up!" Crump angrily blurted out. His robot was another humanoid robot with a pair of arms, legs, and a large rectangular box as its body to support it. On top of the red body with an X on it was a small glass cockpit where Crump sat in.

"We didn't come here to fight Crump…" muttered Mario.

"Deal with it! You'll have to get through me and face my wrath before getting to Grodus!"

Luigi and Mario looked at each other.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Mario.

Luigi smiled. "You bet ya!" They both took out an item…


	52. Chapter 52: Shells and Flowers

Hack: Now to reveal which games all the side characters are from… As you can guess, all the members of the Starwolf team are from Starfox. The X-Nauts, including the shadow sirens and Doopliss, are all from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. The new enemies presented in this chapter are all from Mario RPG games as well.

* * *

**Chapter 52: Shells and Flowers**

_Looks like the plan worked…_

This thought ran through everyone's mind, as they all knew that they lured the guards into the base, allowing the Mario Brothers clear access to Grodus's room. Now they had to play chicken and continue to lure the guards around while still avoiding fights.

But it seemed quite impossible, as all of them reached isolated rooms.

Grodus already caught their plan.

Before the smashers began their plan…

_"I want each and every one of you to arrange routes for the smashers into isolated rooms. Stay in those rooms then face them. I want you to kill them. Crump, stay in my throne room, you will fight the Mario Brothers."_

It seemed that Grodus's counter-plan actually worked. Each group of smashers found themselves forced into isolated rooms.

* * *

"Um… who are you?" asked Jigglypuff as she faced a floating blue robe with yellow glaring eyes floating above it. A crystal crown was also floating above the eye. It looked as though an invisible person was wearing all this attire. 

"I am the Crystal King, and I have been appointed the job of eliminating you all by Grodus. If I defeat you, then Grodus will give me my Crystal Palace back!"

"…Sorry, but…" Jigglypuff threw a pound attack at the Crystal King. "I won't be easy to beat."

The Crystal King suddenly disappeared and a voice was heard behind Jigglypuff. "You think that you can defeat the king of illusions, the king of crystals, and the king of ice? Don't make me laugh."

* * *

"It's you guys…" said Fox. 

"I won't forgive you for tricking us," Link added.

"Mm hm…" Ganondorf simply said as he had nothing to add.

The three smashers faced three familiar figures: Doopliss the Duplighost, and the two sisters of Vivian: Beldam and Marilyn.

"Well the plan almost worked out, until that foolish Mario saw through my darn disguise!" cried Doopliss.

"Doopliss! Don't worry, Grodus understands! He will not kill you!" assured Beldam.

"Groan…. Ooooggg….." said Marilyn, unable to say any words.

"Well be sure to give us a challenge," said Beldam as she held her arms out. "Because we Shadow Sirens don't appreciate intruders…"

* * *

"We fight for evil!" 

"We live for disorder!"

"We like what we do!"

"We struggle for chaos!"

"We are…"

"THE AXEM RANGERS!!!" five familiar figures cried. Well, they were familiar to Peach and Bowser, but maybe not some of the readers, nor Yoshi. The Axem Rangers each wore a suit of armor of a different color: red, pink, yellow, black, and green. The red had a stocky, yet muscular build. The pink wore make up on her robotic face, the only female. The yellow's stomach bloated out like a potbelly, one who ate all the time. The black wore black solid shades, and had slim arms and legs. Finally the green was the tallest, with the thinest face and body. They were all pretty short in general, yet all five carried deadly scythes. The red ranger was clearly the leader, as he stood in the center of the group.

"Not you guys again…" groaned Peach.

"You fought these guys?" asked Yoshi.

"Fucking annoying… Stole a Star right below our damn noses…" Bowser muttered angrily.

The Red Ranger pointed at them. "If you aren't ready, you're in for some pain!"

"Not as bad as the Koopa Brothers at least…" Yoshi commented. "At least they don't try to act ghetto…"

"True… Damn fucking true…" replied Bowser, shuddering.

"Um… Guys?" said Peach. "We're outnumbered, and I don't think they're ready to give us singing motto lessons."

* * *

"What's this? A huge buff guy? A tiny crocodile? A dynamite guy?" said Donkey Kong. 

"You've got me, don't ask me, dude," said Captain Falcon.

The two faced three enemies. The first was a yellow hawk with a humungous wrestler's body. He wore black sunglasses and a shining belt around his waist. Although his muscles bulged through every inch of his body, his face seemed to show that he was quite agile too. This was Rawk Hawk, former champion of Glitzville above Rogueport.

"Get ready to RAWWWWWWWWK, because you guys are in for a beating! If I RAWK you guys up, then I'm winning myself some fame from Grodus!"

The second enemy was a tiny violet crocodile wearing a red bucket-like hat and carrying a brown bag with who knows what. His body showed that he was much more agile than Rawk Hawk, and he looked like the type to be a thief too. Readers, meet Croco, enemy of Mario and Mallow.

"No Mario? I was looking forward to beating that guy up anyways," he simply commented.

The last enemy was a strange creature. His arms were purple and wore red boots. He had stubby legs, but a fat stomach. His stomach had a strange yellow smiley face attached to its center. At the end of his arms were white spikes that could be used as claws. On top of his head was a red fuse popping out of it, as if it was attached to a dynamite. This is Punchinello, commander of explosives.

"You better be ready for my bombs, or else… BOMBS AWAY, YEAH!" cried Punchinello.

"We always get the weirdest guys, dude…" said Falcon. DK nodded in agreement.

* * *

Both Mario brothers barely dodged another huge laser beam attack from the Magnus Von Grapple, controlled by Lord Crump. 

"It's not my fault that I took out a red shell and you grabbed an ice flower!" cried Luigi.

"Looks like we aren't as sync as before…" muttered Mario, putting away a blue fire flower (actually ice flower). "And without our younger counterparts, these items are a bit weaker…" By the way, the Bros. Items are from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

"No, only _one_ of us are supposed to take out the item and initialize it, brother!"

"…Oh yeah. I forgot."

The enormous block foot from the Magnus Von Grapple stomped on the ground, creating a huge shockwave. Both Mario and Luigi jumped over it as Luigi took out his red shell.

"Get it ready, Luigi! Let's try to beat our own record!" Mario smiled.

Luigi nodded as he kicked the red shell at the cockpit of the robot.

Crump smirked. "Buh huh huh huh… what do you think that little thing's going to do?"

KU-KLUNK!

The red shell banged on the glass cockpit, doing nothing except bouncing off, and coming towards Mario! Mario swiftly jumped towards it and kicked it again.

_At that angle, if I kick it with that spin and velocity, then it'll go a little too high for Luigi to jump after it reflects… It'll go faster, so he might not have the reactions. So I have to angle it down. Crump's going to lift up his leg, increasing the altitude of his cockpit, so I have to aim higher anyways, but it'll reflect up towards the ceiling. Therefore, the only solution I have is to kick it up at a velocity of fifty miles per hour and jump up near it to get the downward angle of twenty-five degrees, then I have to kick it again. There, it'll bounce down towards Luigi, but it might hit the ground near him, so I'll have to increase the angle by five degrees… Will that work? Yes, but I need more force to make it faster for the plan to work. If I apply more force, it'll hit the ground in front of Luigi anyways, so I have to decrease my angle further… So kick it up vertically at forty, no, fifty miles per hour then at the height of thirty feet. With that, I'll have to kick it at a downward angle of ten degrees with its velocity at fifty-five miles per hour. Before it was forty-five, so ten miles per hour makes a difference. Luigi'll increase it exponentially, so when it returns to me, it'll travel at about seventy miles per hour._

_When the shell is traveling at least three-hundred miles per hour, it should break the cockpit, if it's the same as I faced it before in the X-Naut base on the moon._

Mario made all these calculations in his mind within a second, then kicked the shell vertically upwards. He instantly jumped up exactly thirty feet then kicked it towards the top tip of Crump's cockpit, at a precise downward angle of ten degrees. As Mario predicted, Crump lifted up his leg to create another shockwave. The shell struck the bottom of the cockpit as the cockpit drew back, its leg lifted. The shell harmlessly bounced off of it as it now shot towards Luigi at a faster speed.

_It's coming at forty-five… no, fifty-five miles per hour. Mario is twenty feet in the air right now, and if my physics are correct, then he'll be ten feet above the ground by the time I kick this shell at about seventy miles per hour. I have to kick it upwards at Crump's cockpit to keep him busy, but if I do, its high angle will make it hit the ceiling and back down to Mario. That'll make it lose some velocity and power, so I'll have to kick it at ninety miles per hour. If I'm right, then Crump will be recovering from his stomp attack. Mario should return the shell at a hundred miles per hour, or maybe slightly faster._

As accurately and quickly as Mario, Luigi calculated all of these physics in his head and kicked the shell approaching him at an extremely high angle. It made another KU-KLUNK off of Crump's cockpit, now hitting it with enough force to vibrate it. It bounced off of the cockpit and hit the ceiling, coming down towards Mario, who was exactly ten feet above the ground from his previous kick.

Both brothers continued this calculation onslaught several times, the red shell speeding up and growing more and more powerful. They were literally playing tennis with the red shell, except using their feet rather than tennis rackets. Crump was continuously trying to create shockwaves to stop them, but Mario and Luigi always took his attacks into account and were not affected, incorporating their own jumps at the perfect times in their physics. Within a few seconds, the red shell was moving so fast that it blasted through Crump's cockpit and shot through the entire robot, creating a large explosion. Blocky Debris were sent flying everywhere within the explosion as the Mario Brothers remained triumphant.

"Phew… Not so cocky now, are you Crump?" said Mario.

"Glad we're not so rusty with our red shell, eh?" Luigi smiled.

"Nope, not at all. Too bad I don't have any more…"

"Me neither…"

"Buh huh huh huh huh… You really thought that I was finished?"

Another Magnus Von Grapple appeared, and this looked much more powerful than the one before. The drills on its hands were much sharper and its feet were much larger, showing that they were much heavier and more powerful. "That was just an X-Naut disguised as me!"

"…You sacrificed your own just to get to us?" gasped Mario.

"…You're all sick…" said Luigi.

"No, I won't be saying, Like That, I'm outta there! No way, you're all gonna die this time, dude!"

But when Crump finished his sentence, both Mario Brothers were out of sight. Suddenly, he looked up to see two human balls flying towards him.

CLANG! CLANG!

"Advanced Bounce Brothers!" Mario and Luigi cried as they bounced off of the cockpit. Unfortunately, it did no damage at all.

"Buh huh huh huh! I doubt that even that red shell can break through my cockpit!"

Suddenly, Mario's feet landed on top of the cockpit, spinning like a top. Sparks violently flew everywhere as a loud screeching noise was heard, as if a drill was trying to drill into metal.

"Advanced Splash Brothers!" Mario cried. He stopped spinning and jumped off, but the cockpit was still completely unharmed!

"Buh huh huh huh! Nice tricks!" said Crump. "But I've got some too!"

The hands on the Magnus Von detached themselves from their owners, and Mario sighed.

"This again?"

"You don't know what this has in stock for you, dude…" said Crump.

The drills on each flying hand suddenly separated into several sharp metal knives! All of them suddenly began to fly towards Mario, surrounding him at every single angle.

Mario grabbed his cape and swung it around, deflecting every single knife in front of him. Several electric discs took out the knives behind him, thanks to Luigi.

The two Mario brothers began to move onto the offensive now. Both ran with fireballs in their hands towards Crump. When they got near his feet, Crump stomped on the ground, causing a huge earthquake. Both brothers easily evaded this with a high jump and fired all their fireballs at the body of the Magnus Von.

The fireballs did absolutely nothing!

"Mario… I have a plan," said Luigi.

"What is it? I'm listening," replied Mario, dodging more drill parts flying around.

Luigi took out a strange looking fire flower and Mario smiled.

"…I'm the decoy then?" he asked.

Luigi nodded. "Yeah. I'll use this. Shoot fireballs when you have an opening, but don't make it obvious."

"I know, I know…"

Luigi lifted up the fire flower and it disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"Hey Crump! How much did Grodus pay you to do his dirty job for him?" taunted Mario.

"You… You'd better not insult Grodus, dude!" Crump angrily replied while turning the Magnus Von towards Mario. Luigi looked up above the Magnus Von to see a tiny fireball floating above it.

_Great… It's set up… Now for the hard part…_

Mario fired several fireballs at Crump, who wasn't affected, except by becoming a little angrier. Some fireballs missed, flying past the robot, although it seemed a little intentional. He charged at Mario and held his handless arms out, charging a large beam attack.

Luigi took this chance. He fired as many fireballs as he could to the tiny fireball above, which was starting to lower. He was beginning to sweat, as he saw the larger fireball begin to fall. _The moment I stop adding fireballs, it'll start falling… That's the effect of the Mix Flower. I can keep it suspended in the air if I fire more fireballs, but I have to be discrete and not alarm Crump about the Mix Flower._

Crump fired two humungous beams of energy at Mario, who short hopped and twirled his body to narrowly avoid both. He immediately dashed up to the legs and drew his Ultra Hammer. He smashed it into the right kneecap of the Magnus Von, causing the entire robot to shake. However, it wasn't dented one bit!

Mario instantly jumped up to the cockpit of the Magnus Von and threw his fist into it. The glass still kept intact, but Mario left a little something for Crump. He left a smoking fireball on the center of it, covering the cockpit with smoke. Crump couldn't see anything except throw the robot's arms around to try to hit something.

The fireball was now as big as half of the gigantic Magnus Von. Unluckily, when the smoke cleared away, Crump was facing Luigi. He instantly fired another beam at Luigi, who just noticed the assault.

Too late. Luigi was struck by both beams of energy and screamed in pain.

"LUIGI!!!" Mario cried, rushing to Luigi. The green-capped plumber was on the ground, coughing out blood.

"What did I tell you to not put yourself in danger? Huh?" cried Mario, but Luigi simply lifted a finger up and pointed it at Crump. Mario looked up and smiled.

The large fireball was twice as large as the Magnus Von now, and it began to fall.

"Mix Flower!" Luigi cried, giving an extra cough.

It took a bit of time for Crump to notice what was going on, but it was too late. The moment he tilted his head up, he saw the enormous fireball on top of his cockpit.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

The fireball exploded, destroying every bit of the Magnus Von Grapple. The smoke cleared away instantly, and there was nothing visible. Crump was completely annihilated. He was nowhere to be seen.


	53. Chapter 53: Insanity

Hack: Gotta apologize for the late update… Been busy with tons of school, including a very evil teacher that all of my school friends know of… Damn idiot. Well, to be honest there's another big reason behind my late update: procrastination and laziness. Yeah, I'm one of those many people who procrastinate like crazy (and still manage to get decent grades…)

Regardless, I won't be able to update weekly anymore, at least for the duration of the next month due to the approaching exams and stuff. Even with Christmas break, I'd spend every day either hanging out with my friends and family or studying.

This chapter isn't that great either, at least in my eyes. You can easily notice that I rushed through it a bit to get it over with, because to be completely honest I wasn't interested in typing these minor fights. Buuuuuuuuut keep in mind that I'll never leave this story dead; it'll only be dead once I finish it.

With all excuses aside, enjoy (hopefully) this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 53: Insanity  
**

_He's a master of ice and illusions… This is a test of whether I can break through someone's defenses or not using my new abilities. How do I break through his defenses and find his weaknesses?_

_Hopefully my training will have paid off…_

Jigglypuff jumped several feet to avoid an icy breath sweeping across the entire floor. She held her hands out and cried, "_Flamethrower_!"

FOOM

The stream of fire shot through the air, aimed at the Crystal King. Three ice crystals immediately surrounded him and created a spherical barrier of energy. The flamethrower attack was instantly reflected back at Jigglypuff, who dodged her own deflected attack with a roll.

"You think fire will finish me off that quickly?" said the Crystal King. "I'm afraid you're wrong there, my friend!"

Jigglypuff whirled around in midair then cried, "_Thunder_!" Several bolts of lightning fell from the ceiling, repeatedly zapping the Crystal King. However, the barrier blocked every attack, keeping him unharmed!

"Nope, your attacks won't hurt me with this barrier on!" cried the Crystal King. "Now time for me to show you some tricks!"

The Crystal King suddenly split into three Crystal Kings! All of them looked vaguely transparent, as if nobody can physically touch him.

"Only one of us is the real one! And even if you do find me…" he smirked with his invisible face. "Can you even touch me?"

"Don't worry, I can!" Jigglypuff replied confidently. She jumped up to one of the illusions and immediately used a pound attack on it, but as a fake, it instantly disappeared!

Suddenly, Jigglypuff's body became encased in ice! While Jigglypuff attacked one fake illusion, the two others attacked her with a super mega ice breath!

"Ha! I don't know why Grodus was worried about you fools…" The two Crystal Kings turned around when suddenly, several wheels of fire were spun at them!

"_Flame Wheel_!"

Jigglypuff instantly thawed herself as fireballs flew around her with her new fire ability, forming several wheels and continuously spinning towards the Crystal Kings. Unfortunately, the miniscule ice crystal continuously deflected them, though they all missed Jigglypuff.

_Flame Wheel is noticeably weaker than Flamethrower, but it has more range and allows me to thaw myself… Like I just did…_ Jigglypuff thought to herself.

Jigglypuff immediately threw another powerful pound attack at the closer Crystal King, which was another illusion! Expecting an assault from the real deal from behind, she jumped.

Unfortunately, her enemy was expecting this. The illusionist aimed his mouth upward as he predicted Jigglypuff's evasion path and shot a lightning bolt… Or rather, a bolt of ice! Jigglypuff was frozen again in midair, soon falling to the ground painfully. She immediately used Flame Wheel again to thaw herself, shivering from the freezing attacks.

"S-s-s-s-oooo c-colddd…" Jigglypuff shivered. She found herself before three Crystal Kings again, all about to use their mega ice breath again.

Responding quickly, Jigglypuff cried, "_Mirror Coat_!"

The ice breath struck her again, freezing her. However, a beam of light shot through her body and struck all three Crystal Kings, destroying two of them. Supposedly, this attack returns the damage doubled.

But the real Crystal King didn't even flinch!

Jigglypuff broke out using Flame Wheel for the third time, shivering again. "How… d-d-did you…"

"I am a master of ice! I cannot be hurt by my own element, even you should know that! And what about fire? I have my crystal slaves who will block for me, making my main weakness a resistance!"

"…Main weakness, you said?"

Jigglypuff instantly dashed up to the Crystal King and threw a Mega Kick at him. However, there was one thing she forgot.

The Crystal King was a ghost, who cannot be harmed by fighting abilities.

Jigglypuff kicked through the ghostly cloak, yet did not harm the king at all! She whirled around to find herself rolling to the side, dodging ice breath after ice breath.

"You can't defeat me! It is impossible!" cried the Crystal King.

Jigglypuff fired another Flamethrower attack, but the crystals blocked them again.

"Nuh uh uh! No attacks will breach my servants!" taunted the Crystal King.

Jigglypuff decided to test her opponent's theory. She used a Rock Slide attack, causing an avalanche of rocks to fall on the ghost.

The barrier blocked it.

Jigglypuff immediately followed her assault up with Surf, causing a huge tidal wave to flood the room.

The barrier blocked it.

Jigglypuff ended her assault with a powerful pound attack.

The barrier blocked it.

"What did I tell you?" The Crystal King laughed. "There's no way you can get through! Now it's my turn!"

He used his predictable ice voltage attack again, which Jigglypuff dodged with a flat crouch.

_How can I get through his barrier? It seems so impossible, they can block practically everything!_

…_The obvious choice is to destroy those crystals! Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?_

_But how to destroy them… They're probably durable themselves…_

"_Flamethrower_!"

Jigglypuff aimed a flamethrower attack at one of the crystals and it struck the ice crystal. However, when the smoke cleared away, it didn't seem harmed at all!

"Wha…?" said Jigglypuff.

"My crystals have high resistance, so fire attacks will do nothing, even though it is ice's weakness!" the Crystal King exclaimed, finally freezing Jigglypuff again.

After using Flame Wheel to thaw herself instantly, Jigglypuff thought up of the solution.

_If special attacks can't destroy his crystals… I'll have to use physical attacks._

_And I know the perfect attack to use that's super effective against ice… I hope my training comes into play here…_

Jigglypuff charged her fist with her right hand, gathering energy through it. The Crystal King laughed.

"Just give up! You know you can't win!"

He split into not three, but ten different illusions of himself! All ten of them surrounded Jigglypuff in a circle prepared to use the most powerful ice breath any living being would ever see!

Jigglypuff simply stood her ground, continuously charging her right fist. It was now shining for some reason…

WOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The breath froze every single square inch of the room within the circle of Crystal Kings. After the fog cleared away, there was nothing where Jigglypuff stood before. All there stood was a huge pillar of ice.

"_METEOR MASH_!"

BOOOOOOOOM

One illusion disappeared with a fist. The nine others turned to look where Jigglypuff was, but half of them were instantly taken out by an Agility-fied Jigglypuff carrying a huge metal fist.

Once the Crystal King found out what was happening, all of his illusions were already taken out. He smirked as he made his ice crystals surround him. Jigglypuff rammed her steel fist into one of the crystal.

The barrier blocked it.

…Or not. The millisecond her fist touched the crystal, all of them broke as if they had an invisible tied bond between them. Jigglypuff smiled at the shocked Crystal King as she cried…

"_Flamethrower_!"

The first time was the last time the Crystal King felt pain in this fight. The beam of fire melted his icy crown and cloaked, making them disappear into thin air.

"No barrier is indestructible…" explained Jigglypuff. "Everything has a weakness… It may be concealed, but it still may be there…"

She walked through the door behind her, still avoiding the X-Nauts who are scouting the halls for the smashers.

* * *

It looked like a staring contest between two groups of three: Fox, Link, and Ganondorf versus Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss. They stood, glaring at each other in the dark room filled with shadows. 

Hatred flared from the smashers' eyes, since they could not forgive their opponents for causing Mario and Luigi to almost kill each other.

KA-BANG!

Marilyn, the fat, mute shadow siren raised her hands, causing huge bolts to fall upon the smashers. The three dodged quickly by rolling to the side, preparing to dodge whatever their enemy is about to throw at them.

Beldam released an icy mist of fog, veiling the entire room and preventing anyone from seeing.

Except the Shadow Sirens themselves, of course. Marilyn appeared directly behind Fox from the shadow on the floor, about to smash her powerful fists to crush his body. Fox instinctively rolled forward to dodge it, whirling around to face his opponent.

He whirled around just to see Link slice Marilyn in half with the Great Fairy's Sword! (Remember, this is Young Link)

"One down, two to go!" Link confidently cried as he drew his bow to blindly aim wherever Beldam and Doopliss were hiding. He felt two purple hands grab his legs, but it was too late. Beldam tripped Link, causing him to fall face flat on the floor. Beldam drew her fist back, charging it with the power of ice.

Ganondorf came flying out of nowhere with his leg charged with darkness, kicking through Beldam's face and causing it to explode!

"Take that, old hag!" cried Ganondorf.

The icy mist lifted as the room revealed four smashers.

Wait, four?

Two Foxes were looking at each other confused, but knowing that one of them is Doopliss in disguise.

"You have GOT to be kidding me… That definitely isn't me," said the first Fox.

"Come on, that's obviously Doopliss. It's so obvious, damn it!"

Link and Ganondorf stared at the pair confused when two pairs of dark hands emerging from the dark ground tripped them again!

"We can't be destroyed by physical contact," said Beldam, smirking.

"Oooog…" groaned Marilyn, though she sounded oddly satisfied.

"Get him, Doopliss!" cried Beldam, pinning Link to the ground.

The two Foxes immediately dashed at each other, sending fists and kicks flying at each other, while successfully dodging every attack.

One Fox drew his staff and thrusted it at the other Fox, who sidestepped it.

"Oh ho! If you can do that…" said the weaponless Fox. "Then I can do this!"

"Bad idea, you just revealed that you're Doopliss…" said Fox.

Doopliss, disguised as Fox, smiled. "So? It doesn't matter, your friends are there to watch you die. But if you can use your staff…"

Doopliss held his own fake staff behind him, charging it with energy. Fox widened his eyes.

_No… He can't…_

"Grodus told me about it, and I don't need any training at all to use this guy's full potential. LEVEL FOUR: ZERO FO-"

Doopliss was cut off by a laser from Fox's blaster. He had failed to use whatever that new ability was.

"Don't… If you do… you'll die at you're body's rate…" said Fox. "And you'll kill everyone without control."

Fox pinned Doopliss to the ground with his right foot, his staff aimed at Doopliss's throat. "You're dead now," he finished as his hand began shoot his staff forward to kill Doopliss.

Suddenly, Doopliss transformed. Not into Link, not into Ganondorf, not into Luigi, Captain Falcon, Samus, or Jigglypuff, but he transformed…

Into Falco…

Fox's staff stopped the moment it barely touched the feathery skin on Doopliss's neck. Sweat immediately dripped down his back.

"How do you like it? My disguise is perfect!" Doopliss grinned as he used Falco's voice to talk with. Taking advantage of Fox's stunned expression and vulnerability, Doopliss kicked Fox off of himself, causing Fox to fall on his back on the floor.

"Fox!!!" Link and Ganondorf cried.

Doopliss immediately dashed to the stunned Fox and used his popular one-hit drill kick to pound Fox into the ground. He immediately followed up with a reflector attack, knocking Fox slightly into the air. He followed up with a short hopped drill kick attack to send Fox into the ground.

Falco's shine infinite…

That image immediately played through Fox's mind; it was the only thing he could only see. He didn't even know he was being beaten by a shine combo. The image of him aiming his staff down at Falco's throat… Right before his suicide…

_Fox's knees were on top of Falco's chest, pointing the sharp end of his staff at Falco's neck._

"_Looks like I win again," said Fox, smirking._

"_You idiot…" replied Falco._

"You idiot, what the hell are you fucking doing, Fox? GET A DAMN HOLD OF YOURSELF!!!!" someone yelled. "THIS IS NOT THE DAMN FOX WE KNOW!!!"

Ganondorf yelled at the top of his lungs, and Fox's mind finally set itself back into place. He already forgot about Link and Ganondorf…

_No… I don't want to lose them either…_

A new determination flared through Fox's heart.

_You seriously think that you're going to destroy me with Falco's body?_

"Don't you dare fucking befoul Falco…" Fox muttered. When Doopliss started his eleventh reflector, Fox immediately somehow turned on his fixed reflector, striking Doopliss at the same time Doopliss hit him.

KA-BAM!

Like a gun shot cracking through silence, both Fox and Doopliss were sent flying in opposite directions from the powerful impact of two reflector attacks.

"If you're going to befoul Falco and try to hurt any of my friends… YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!!!" Fox screamed at the top of his lungs, charging at Doopliss with newfound speed, running almost as fast as Captain Falcon.

"Ganondorf!" Link cried, still trapped by Beldam's hands. "We have to get out of here somehow!"

"Right… I know how darkness works… They usually can't be destroyed by physical might, but light should do the work," replied Ganondorf.

"How about this?" Link's hand suddenly turned into fire, burning Beldam's right hand. "Din's Fire!"

"AHHHHH!!!!" Beldam cried in pain, as she was a master of ice, naturally being weak to fire.

"That works too," said Ganondorf. Both of his hands charged with light energy orbs and instantly released them at Marilyn's arms, burning them.

"GUUHHHHH!!!" Marilyn immediately released Ganondorf from her grasp, sinking back into the shadows.

Link and Ganondorf both immediately whirled around to see Fox not being himself at all. It was a horrible sight, to put simply.

Doopliss was against the wall, but he was far from alive. None of his feathers were blue, but they were all red covered in blood. His shirt and pants were colorless if you didn't count red as a color. The staff covered with blood was stuck in the wall and in the fake Falco's head. His beak was completely sliced off, but one thing was clear about Doopliss's face: only fear covered his face aside from blood. Fox stood, glaring at the dead figure against the wall that he brutally tortured and murdered.

…And he laughed like a retarded patient in an asylum…

"Yes… Yes… Just die like that… Ha! DIE!" Fox lifted his blaster and fired it at the carcass's face, creating another fresh burn mark with the blood.

"Fox! What the hell are you…" Link started, but he remembered about the two other opponents still alive and turned to face them.

Both Beldam and Marilyn were as awestruck as Link and Ganondorf. They stared at Fox like he was insane…

And at the moment, he was.

Fox's laughs turned into whispers. "Yes… Yes… Just die like that… Falco's not yours… No way… Fuck no…"

Fox immediately let out a high-pitched ear-splitting scream.

If they were not facing enemies, Link and Ganondorf would help Fox right now, but they couldn't because the two Shadow Sirens finally recognized their enemies' presence.

It was too late, though. Link accurately fired a light arrow through Beldam's heart, dissipating her body into several violet, icy particles.

Beldam groaned as she sunk into the ground to flee from her powerful enemies, but Ganondorf got the better. He was immediately next to the Shadow Siren and swung his enormous sword on her head.

His sword was covered with the power of light.

Like her sister, Beldam was sliced in half before she dissipated into several yellow particles, disappeared and no longer in this world.

"…Not as hard as I thought…" Link sighed. Ganondorf simply grunted in response as they immediately ran towards their friend.

Fox, who was no longer laughing, let out another high pitched scream. "KILL ME NOW!!!"

The staff immediately disappeared from Doopliss's massacred carcass and reappeared in Fox's had. He pointed it at his own throat, about to stab himself.

KA-CHING!

Link let out his boomerang, knocking the staff out of Fox's hands. Fox threw his hand into his chest as if his staff was still there.

"Fox! Get a hold of yourself!" Link cried.

Ganondorf didn't say anything, mostly because he didn't know what to say. He also wasn't best friends with Fox, but most certainly didn't want him to die.

Fox screamed again, taking out his blaster this time.

"Wha… WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING???" Link yelled, firing another arrow to knock Fox's blaster again. He looked to his side to see what Ganondorf was doing, but didn't see him!

Ganondorf let out a powerful punch in the back of Fox's head, knocking him out cold instantly. He grabbed Fox's body and heaved him on his shoulder.

"Ganondorf… You… didn't…"

Ganondorf shook his head. "No, I don't want to kill him. He'd eventually kill himself if we didn't knock him out. I'd say there's something big that happened between him and Falco…"

Link frowned. "It must've been something really big if seeing an image of Falco turned Fox insane… They were best friends, as far as I remembered."

"Inseparable."

"I concur. Falco probably died, but something else must've happened… Maybe Falco was tortured or committed suicide or something, and Fox felt as if it's his fault."

The pair walked out of the door, carrying Fox's unconscious body.

Ganondorf instantly stopped. "What are we going to do about that damn body? It already smells…"

"Just leave it. They'll know not to mess with us… Or even mess with Fox's friend… We've got to find Grodus though, so we can help Mario and Luigi if they need it."

* * *

"No, Luigi! I'm not going to let you go fight with me!" Mario scolded. 

"Mario…" said Luigi, who was still staggering from their fight with Crump. They both reached a large door, evidently where Grodus was waiting.

"Luigi! I said no! I'm not going to lose you because of me!"

"…What are you talking about?"

"Never mind! You need rest!" Mario forced Luigi back on his back.

"Brother!"

"Look, stay here or I'll fry you," Mario threatened so politely.

"…" Luigi glared up at his older brother. "…I'll listen, but after some time of resting I'm going up there to fight with you. You can't stop me."

"By then I'll be finished. You won't have to fight, trust me," Mario smiled. He turned around and walked through the enormous doors, letting out a loud creaking noise.

Luigi stood up, ignoring the stinging pain through his entire body. "Brother… You know I'm going to follow you right now… I think that's why you even smiled…"

After a minute, Luigi immediately followed through the door…


	54. Chapter 54: Pride of an Ape

Hack: Now this is what I call my most rushed chapter… Definitely. Well, wait anxiously for the next chapter, the big fight between the Mario brothers and Grodus! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 54: Pride of an Ape**

"This is a great hiding place, Link…" said Jigglypuff, smiling cutely.

"Thanks. This room's been locked, but Ganondorf unlocked it from the outside, then locked it again once we're in here," replied Link. "Give thanks to him, not me. I doubt the X-Nauts would try looking in here, since they probably think it's locked…"

Link and Ganondorf (carrying Fox) met up with Jigglypuff in the middle of a hall, the pokemon being chased by another army of X-Nauts. They found a hiding spot inside a locked room.

"So how are we going to get out of here? We need to get on the Halberd after we finish off Grodus…" said Jigglypuff.

"First… We need to wait until Fox wakes up," said Link.

Jigglypuff looked down at Fox's unconscious bloody body. "He doesn't look all right… Who was he fighting that got him beaten up so bad?"

Link and Ganondorf looked at each other. "Don't tell Fox or anyone from his team this but… it was him that was doing the beating up," said Link.

Jigglypuff looked curious. "What happened?"

"We faced Doopliss, the transformer," said Ganondorf.

"When he transformed into Falco, Fox just… cracked up," Link explained. "At first he just seemed angry, then he snapped. He became insane and hacked away at Doopliss's Falco body. He continued to hack at it way after Doopliss was dead…"

Ganondorf held up a fist. "I knocked Fox out afterwards."

Jigglypuff sighed. "I'm afraid Fox hasn't… been the same since something happened to Falco."

"Let me guess…" said Link. "He got killed."

"Yes… But it's more of _how_ he got killed," Jigglypuff replied. She then gave them a quick story on what had happened between Fox and Falco… Or from what she knew.

* * *

KRAK-OW! 

The green egg thrown by Yoshi exploded directly above the five Axem Rangers, blinding them temporarily. Bowser immediately let loose a singeing breath of fire upon the five rangers. He immediately felt several scythes clanging off the back of his shell.

Bowser roared as he turned around, swinging his claws violently. He completely missed as all five Axem Rangers split apart. He looked up to see the yellow fat Axem Ranger and the black sunshade-wearing Axem Ranger directly above him, aiming their scythes at him. With quick reflexes, the Koopa King shot his arms out and grabbed both of his enemies by their throats. He smashed their bodies together and tossed them aside.

"Oooog…" Yellow and Black groaned painfully, using their scythes to stand up.

Meanwhile, Peach and Yoshi were fending off Red, Pink, and Green. It didn't seem like a hard thing anymore, though, since the three Axem Rangers were all encased in eggs already.

Red instantly broke out of his egg, but Peach was ready to beat him up. Before Red could raise his scythe up in defense, Peach smashed her palms into his face while running at him, sending him up into the air a bit. She jumped up next to him and grabbed her crown, smashing it into Red's head. The princess hovered above the ground, following Red's limp body in the air then kicked him upwards. With Red directly above her, Peach jumped up in midair again, shooting her parasol upwards and stabbing him. She opened it up to float to the ground, allowing Red's body to bounce on the sharp, stinging parasol repeatedly.

By then Pink and Green both broke out of their eggs. Yoshi short hopped into the air and smashed his head downward into Green's head, smashing him up into the air.

"YARR!!!" Pink cried as she swung her scythe at Yoshi. Yoshi ducked underneath her scythe and accurately swept his tail, tripping her. He immediately swung his tail upwards to hit Green's falling body, juggling him in the air longer. Yoshi jumped up into the air and let loose a powerful sex kick with his right boot, sending Green flying into the wall. He finished off his combo with a well-aimed egg, blowing up on Green's body.

Yoshi saw Pink below him, aiming her scythe upwards. He flipped once in the air and shot down like a missile.

"Ground Pound!" Yoshi cried, crushing Pink's body underneath his heavy body.

Yellow and Black finally regained their posture, charging speedily towards the sluggish Bowser. Bowser crawled into his hard shell, causing the two Axem Rangers to clang their scythes off of his shell harmlessly. Suddenly, Bowser spun several times within his shell, the Whirling Fortress attack.

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!

Bowser zoomed across the room and through the two Axem Rangers, knocking them up into the air. He instantly climbed out of his shell and swept his claw in an upward arc, making slash marks on their bodies.

"ROAR!!!"

Bowser then aimed his face up at Yellow and Black and let loose another breath of fire, an inescapable one.

At the same time, Yoshi threw another egg at the two burnt Axem Rangers, inflicting total PAIN on them!

Yup, Yellow and Black are down!

CLANG!

Peach smashed her frying pan on Red's face, sending him up a few feet. She switched to a tennis racket and hit him like a tennis ball, towards Bowser and Yoshi!

"Noooooooooooooo, this can't beeeeeeee…!" Red cried as he was struck by another tennis racket by Yoshi. Bowser jumped up into the air and pointed his bottom down at Red, who was now lying down on the ground.

"BOWSER BOMB!" Bowser roared, using his own version of a ground pound. The moment his butt touched Red, the ground cracked. Red's head was crushed.

"Glad those guys are gone now…" Peach grumbled under her breath.

"They seem pretty annoying…" said Yoshi. "Can't be worse than the Koopa Brothers, though… Never saw them for a while, actually."

The three of them smiled then walked out to search for whatever can help the others.

* * *

Croco and Rawk Hawk were sitting at a table, playing Texas Hold 'em. 

"Aw man, the Hawk can't be rawked like this… I only got two pair…" said Rawk Hawk, frowning.

Croco smiled devilishly. "Nothing beats a healthy, good Royal Straight."

"Punchinello! Didn't you rawk those guys' sox yet?" Rawk Hawk barked at the bomb expert.

"Yup, I sure did!" said Punchinello. Several feet from him was a huge pile of huge bomb-ombs, all about to explode. "Nothing like a good explosion… And a couple painful screams of pain too. They're all inside that pile."

KA-BOOM!

A huge explosion in the large science room erupted from the pile of bomb-ombs. Nobody could have survived that explosion.

"Whoa, nelly, big explosion there," said Croco, subtly stealing a few chips right under Rawk Hawk's nose, unnoticed.

"Don't know why Grodus can't rawk them…"

"FALCOOOOON PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!!"

Punchinello whirled around to see a flaming fist make contact with his face. Punchinello screamed as he was sent flying into Donkey Kong, who threw a powerful giant punch into his face. There was a loud explosion and DK's face was completely pitch black.

Punchinello held his right smoking hand out, which was carrying a burnt out bomb-omb. "You can't beat me dude!"

"All right, nothing to worry about, let's get back to our game…" said Rawk Hawk, glancing down back at his hand. He noticed something was wrong. "Is it just me or didn't I have more chips before?"

Croco shrugged. "Probably just your imagination. What do you have?"

"You can't beat this! I've got a four of a kind!"

"Too bad… I have a Straight Flush hearts. You lose again," replied Croco, revealing his hand.

Punchinello tossed another bomb-omb at DK, who rolled backwards to dodge a small explosion. Captain Falcon quickly dashed in front of Punchinello and delivered a flaming fist in his face. The bomb expert blocked with another bomb-omb, creating another scorching explosion that damaged Falcon!

"You can't beat me! I've got my bombs!"

"Ugh…" DK groaned. "It seems like he's got infinite bombs…"

An idea lit up in Falcon's head. "I've got an idea," he said, then whispered to DK.

DK looked at his partner. "It seems like a really obvious idea."

"You know, dude…" Falcon started. "Obvious ideas work sometimes, and that's where my sexy thinking skills come in play man."

"…Yup. Very obvious, but I can't deny that it'll probably work," DK replied with a sigh. He lifted up his palms and immediately slammed them into the ground, creating a vibrating earthquake that damaged anyone standing on the ground.

"Whoa, nelly!" Croco cried as all three of the villains instantly jumped into the air. Captain Falcon jumped up directly behind the vulnerable Punchinello and delivered a straight jab into his ribs. Before Punchinello could react with a bomb, Falcon threw his powerful knee into his stomach, knocking all of the wind out of him. Punchinello crashed into the wall, creating a huge dent in it.

Simply put, the bomb-expert was completely knocked out.

Rawk Hawk and Croco looked at Captain Falcon and DK in disbelief as they landed on their feet.

"…Remember, buddy, you owe me over three thousand coins, whether you die or not," said Croco.

"Funny, cuz I think I'm the one who's gonna do the rawkin…" replied Rawk Hawk.

The yellow wrestler jumped at DK. Much to DK's surprise, Rawk Hawk was surprisingly agile for someone his size and strength. He threw both of his hands at DK, who threw his two hands to grab Rawk Hawk's hand, each now trying to wrestle each other down with raw strength.

"You can't rawk the hawk, man!" Rawk Hawk cried as he shoved DK away with his superior strength. DK grunted as he jumped back on his feet, charging another Giant Punch briefly.

Rawk Hawk dived with his right leg pointed at DK, like Falcon's Falcon kick attack. With blinding reflexes, DK paused his charge as he grabbed the flying wrestler and threw him at the wall behind him.

Rawk Hawk instantly flipped in midair and kicked off of the wall, flying at DK like a charging missile. DK could only block with his tough arms, but his defensive maneuver couldn't save him. DK was sent flying off of his feet and on his back, groaning in pain.

"You can't rawk the hawk, man!" Rawk Hawk repeated as he sent a fist flying at DK. DK held up his palm, grabbing the fist and using every ounce of his strength to push Rawk Hawk away. However, Rawk Hawk's superior strength pushed forward, shoving DK back to the ground. Before DK could react again, the wrestler placed his knee on DK's chest, pinning him to the ground. He pinned DK against the floor more by using his hands on DK's throat.

"Pah! You're weak!" taunted Rawk Hawk. "Can't even break away!"

Meanwhile, Captain Falcon was holding off Croco the speedy thief. Unfortunately, Croco amazingly outran the racer, constantly dropping bombs behind him to slow Falcon's chase down. Occasionally the thief stopped to throw even more bombs more accurately, but Falcon dodged them all flawlessly.

"Can't you give up, man?" cried Croco, running from Falcon again.

"Psh, no way, especially since you're in my gal's way!" Falcon yelled back. He then cried, "Falcon Dash!" and his feet were lit on fire. Instantly, he ran twice as faster, leaving behind trailers of fire wherever he ran.

And he was running towards Croco.

Croco, stunned by Falcon's sudden burst in speed, could do nothing as Falcon's flaming Raptor Boost came flying into his cheek, blowing him into the ceiling.

"OW!!!"

Croco fell from the ceiling just to be met by Falcon's flip kick. He was knocked to the side, still in midair, and stunned when Captain Falcon zoomed at him in mid-air.

"Feel the might of… MY SEXY KNEE!!!" Falcon cried as he thrusted his right knee into Croco's small body. Croco screamed as electricity flowed through him and he was instantly blasted into the wall.

Croco didn't have time to recover as Falcon zoomed at him and used TEH KNEE again! Croco's body crippled further as the racer grabbed the thief by the collar.

"You've got no idea who you dealin' with, man!" Falcon gritted through his teeth. He turned to see DK pinned by Rawk Hawk and prepared to throw Croco at Rawk Hawk.

"No!" DK roared, holding a hand out to stop Falcon from interfering. "This is MY fight!"

Falcon hesitated. _Oh. Right. DK prided himself in strength… If it's a battle in strength… he'll never fucking forgive me for helping him._

_All I can do is back off and deal with this little rascal…_

Falcon instantly threw Croco up into the air and charged his fist.

"Falcooon…"

Croco's eyes widened as he struggled to take out anything from his loot bag, _anything_ to save himself, but it was too late.

"PUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!"

The powerful infamous flaming fist crashed into Croco's fragile body, shattering every bone in it. Croco was sent flying into the wall, completely lifeless and dead.

"Fine, Kong…" said Falcon. "But you better not die on me."

"What ya gonna do about it, little chimp?" Rawk Hawk taunted the ape. "Can't rawk me, can you?"

With both hands, DK grabbed the wrist of the hand pinning his throat and squeezed as hard as he can. After a second, Rawk Hawk yelped in pain as he heard several bones crack, jumped off of DK and looking at his broken hand.

DK took this chance. He finally released his powerful Giant Punch at Rawk Hawk's chest, blowing him to the other side of the room.

KA-BOOM!

The collision of the punch and Rawk Hawk sounded like an enormous bomb cracking through the room. Rawk Hawk staggered as he finally stood up, still massaging his throbbing right hand.

"All right… I've been rawking you the easy way… But now the hawk has got it. The hawk is serious! YOU'RE GONNA GET RAWKED!!!!" he yelled angrily.

Rawk Hawk sped at DK with his agile body, but the giant ape was waiting. When the wrestler threw his left fist at DK, the ape grabbed it with his right hand.

"Ya think that's gonna work? You're gonna get rawked again! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Every muscle in DK's right arm bulged violently, as if they were about to explode. DK gave an angry aura of strength as he used every inch of the strength left over in his right arm to twist Rawk Hawk's fist. He felt the resisting strength of Rawk Hawk's fist disappear as ones cracked with every degree that he twisted. The wrestler continued to scream, forgetting about his legs and only thinking of the pain in his hand.

"OOOOGAAAAAAAAAA!!!" DK cried as he gave a violent twist. There was a disgusting crack and he literally broke the bones in Rawk Hawk's left hand _off of the bones in his arm_.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Rawk Hawk screamed as he looked at his limping hand, unable to move it at all. It sagged like a bag, hanging down and hanging by the bone ending at the wrist.

DK charged **both** of his fists and proceeded to punch Rawk Hawk with every inch of his strength again, disregarding the pain throbbing through his pulled muscles.

"NO! PLEASE! SPARE THE HAWK!"

"Hell no," said DK as he released his fists on Rawk Hawk's face. Instantly the life left the wrestler as he was sent sprawling to the ground.

DK swayed for a moment until he fell to the ground. Captain Falcon sped to catch him before he fell.

"…Nice job, dude. You are definitely the strongest guy I know, man!"

Donkey Kong blinked several times, panting. "And that was my strongest opponent… Let me rest a bit… Ooga… Keep me safe, man…" He closed his eyes, unconscious.

Captain Falcon lifted the unconscious ape on his right shoulder. "My friend… You've just won a battle pride, man. Congrats… Now let's get with the others."

* * *

Luigi found himself in another hall with another grand door at the end of it. 

_This is it, brother… I'm coming._

_You knew, didn't you? You knew I was going to come… It's funny, really. It seems as if you're hiding something from me, but really you just wanted to show that you love me as your dearest brother…_

_Brother… I love you too. And I'm not going to let you lose again Grodus._

"Brother! I'm coming! Get ready, Grodus, because I'm going to kick your damn ass!" Luigi screamed out into the air, running through the door.

Little did he know that Mario really was hiding something.


	55. Chapter 55: A Hero's Death

Hack: A great fight in my opinion, though it is a little rushed, particularly at the very end. Next chapter will be the beginning of an arc full of fights!

Enjoy it!

* * *

**Chapter 55: A Hero's Death**

"It's miraculous how all of us can manage to fit in this room…" Link grunted. "I'm guessing you guys had fun fighting from seeing the unconscious Donkey Kong?"

"I could say the same to you…" said Yoshi. "Looks like Fox got himself in a bad situation."

Jigglypuff, Link, and Ganondorf exchanged looks. "It's a bit of a secret thing…" said Link.

"I'm a little tired… We'll leave you all the story for later," Jigglypuff answered.

"Geez… We gotta find those Mario Bros fast before we can board the Halberd…" said Captain Falcon. "I see it right above us."

"I'm assuming we can't go with you guys to help… Is that right?" asked Peach.

Falcon shook his head. "This is our fight, and I don't want you guys to interfere, man. It's a personal thing I've got with Wolf… And Samus."

"…Samus…" many people murmured.

"I always knew that bitch was up to something at the mansion…" muttered Bowser. "She was always silent…"

"Hot-tempered too," added Ganondorf. "But we'll have to wait for Mario and Luigi. I doubt they even reached Grodus yet."

* * *

"It's about time…" Grodus said, turning around to face Mario. "It's twenty minutes until the death ray activates, shooting into the sky at the satellite mirror and into the Mushroom Kingdom." 

Mario grabbed his wrist, ready to fight with fire. "Yeah? Well I'm going to beat you in twenty minutes then stop this so-called death ray."

Grodus grabbed his golden staff and looked at Mario through his glasses. "Let's see who will win: the plumber or the magician."

Grodus let loose a fierce lightning bolt from the ceiling, right at where Mario stood. Mario was flying in the air, performing various flips and tricks in midair to keep himself unpredictable. The moment he fell towards Grodus, he let lose a fierce downward punch.

CLANG!

A barrier formed around Grodus with four small robots that looked like pink X-marks. They seem to create the barrier. Mario smiled as he predicted this maneuver and kicked off of the tough barrier, charging two fireballs.

FOOM! FOOM!

The two fireballs struck two of the Mini-Yux, setting them on fire. However, they were completely unaffected! Grodus seemed to smile underneath his cloak.

_Pah… Looks like he got a bit stronger too. Can't say I was seriously expecting that, though…_ Mario thought. He saw the four Mini-Yux pointing their mouths at him, about to fire deadly lasers at him. Without a second thought, Mario jumped to the ceiling, barely dodging the lightning fast red lasers below him.

Two more lasers were fired at him, and Mario just realized that only two of the Mini-Yux fired, allowing the other two to aim for wherever he dodged. He was in no condition to dodge in midair.

Mario flipped his yellow cape around, harmlessly deflecting the two red lasers off of it and back at Grodus's barrier.

The two Mini-Yux that just fired the lasers were destroyed by their own lasers, but by this time the other two recovered from their attack and prepared to fire even more lasers at the vulnerable Mario!

"HIYAH!"

Milliseconds before the lasers struck Mario, Luigi came flying out of nowhere and found himself between Mario and the lasers. He held out his left elbow and activated his flame shield, blocking the lasers.

"Luigi!" Mario smiled.

"You!" Grodus angrily cried out at Luigi's sudden appearance. The two brothers finally landed on the ground, each on opposite sides of Grodus.

"So it's two on one, eh?" said Grodus as two more Mini-Yux popped out from his cloak, making the number of his protectors a total of four again.

"Luigi, you've got your hammer?" Mario asked from across the room.

"Nope, afraid it broke…" Luigi sighed.

"Doesn't matter, you're strong enough without it." Mario gave Luigi a thumbs up.

Mario took out his monstrous steel ultra hammer. Its size towered over all three beings in the room, with a small handle. The head of his hammer was twice as larger than Mario. It was amazing how a plumber can wield a hammer this huge.

…_Luigi, you ready?_

…_Yeah, Mario… I'm ready. I know what you're about to do._

These thoughts seem to travel between the eyes and ears of the two brothers, as if they could read each other's minds. Mario jumped into the air and lifted his hammer, getting his muscles ready.

"Ultra quake!" Mario cried, slamming his hammer on the ground. An earthquake shook the entire room, causing Grodus to waver and almost trip.

"You think you can destroy my guardians with this?" he laughed.

However, the Mini-Yux looked confused. They were whirling around the barrier they were protecting, losing control of themselves. Luigi was in the air, unaffected by the earthquake created by his brother's menacing hammer.

"Here's something I learned from my pokemon friend… _Flame Wheel_!!!!" Luigi cried. Several familiar circles of fire surrounded him, then they were tossed by an invisible arm at Grodus. Each ring engulfed all four of the baffled Mini-Yux, destroying them and the barrier they created.

Knowing that Luigi was going to destroy the Mini-Yux successfully, Mario already prepared his hammer directly behind Grodus before the barrier was even destroyed. He threw it down on top of Grodus, who swung around to block the enormous hammer with his thin yet powerful staff.

Mario simply smiled. _Get him, Luigi._

Luigi jumped at Grodus with his own weapon: his electric sword in his right hand. He thrusted it through Grodus's head. Electricity surged through every inch of the magician's body, but he was resistant to special, magical attacks. Without taking in much pain, Grodus used his right hand to keep Mario's hammer in lock while he made several hand gestures with his left hand.

"_Bolting_!"

KRA-KOW!

Several stinging lightning bolts shot at Luigi from the ceiling so fast that Luigi was unable to react. The bolts zapped him with as much electricity as his sword gave to Grodus. Luigi screamed in pain, completely vulnerable after the attack cleared out.

"You cannot defeat me!" Grodus cried, whirling around to deflect Mario's ultra hammer. "In fifteen minutes, the death ray will destroy half of Mushroom Kingdom. Wherever it hits will destroy everything in a five kilometer radius!"

"We'll stop you then!" Mario cried, shooting several fireballs. Grodus smirked as the four Mini-Yux appeared again, deflecting all of the fireballs. "Damn it…" Mario grumbled. _We used up too much time so he had time to make his barrier again…_

Luigi summoned his Flame Wheel attack again, but Grodus was prepared this time. He closed his eyes, then immediately raised his staff. "Stop!"

The Flame Wheels suddenly stopped in midair, not moving at all. Taking a closer look at the fireballs forming the circles showed that not even a flicker of fire moved! In fact, nobody can feel the heat radiating from the fireballs by putting their hand near them.

In short, Luigi's attack has stopped in time.

"What?" Luigi gaped at Grodus.

"You should know better than use the same tactics…" said Grodus. "_Ice Bea-_"

Mario interrupted his attack with a powerful downward fist on the barrier. The attack didn't harm Grodus in the least, although the banging noise was enough to break his concentration. A beam of ice fired from Grodus's staff, but instead of shooting at Luigi, it violently aimed upward, freezing the gray ceiling.

Before Grodus could react, Mario jumped into the air and landed on top of one of the Mini-Yux. He flipped off of it with a powerful kick, destroying it with one blow, then landed on the other Mini-Yux quickly.

"Multi-Bounce!" Mario cried as he destroyed the second Mini-Yux with another bounce. When Grodus finally realized that two of his Mini-Yux were destroyed, Mario destroyed a third one.

"Not yet!" Grodus cried, shooting a lightning bolt at the bouncing Mario. Mario fell backwards in the air, narrowly dodging it, but he lost his chance to destroy the last Mini-Yux. However, he was falling… towards Luigi!

_Seems like I could read your mind… Right, let's see if this'll work…_

Luigi bent low, charging his bottom. Mario smiled.

_Green Missile, huh? I see what it is now, so we can instantly destroy the last key to the barrier again. And to guarantee that we can hit Grodus at the same time…_

By this time, Mario was directly behind Luigi and Grodus was still recharging from his previous attack. Mario held a fireball beside Luigi's butt and released it, at the same time that Luigi released his Green Missile. There was a huge napalm explosion, charring Mario, but the combination had done the job.

Flying like a missile, Luigi blasted through the last Mini-Yux, destroying it. However, he was still flying at Grodus when the barrier disappeared! Luigi's head collided with Grodus's head, blasting Grodus into the wall and almost destroying his head in the process! Rubble fell on top of Grodus, crushing him underneath several rocks.

"Luigi… You all right?" Mario asked, brushing off the charred dust on him.

Luigi smiled at his brother. "I should be asking that to you, brother… Look out!" Luigi gasped, pointing behind Mario. Mario whirled around to see several rocks flying at him. Grodus used his magic to remove all of the rocks on him, and sent them all at Mario with psychic powers.

"Look out, Luigi…" Mario muttered to his brother. With quick reflexes, he spun on the ground, creating a vortex with his fists and arms. Mario Tornado attack!

But he added an extra something to his spinning attack. He flipped his cape around at every possible spot near him. He was spinning so fast that someone looking from above would think he was a red circle with a yellow ring around him. The attack had done its job. The cape struck every rock, sending them at every possible direction, including at his own brother and Grodus.

Luigi, aware of Mario's previous warning, ducked just in time to dodge the boulder flying overhead. Grodus, caught by surprise, was struck by several boulders.

Mario stopped spinning, panting. Sweat dropped from his neck, and his cap flew off, revealing his brown hair.

Grodus staggered, his glasses and glass head completely cracked. "Ha… Ha…" he muttered. "Only five more minutes…"

The eyes of both brothers widened. Had fifteen minutes already passed by so fast?

"We have to finish him off! Now!" Luigi cried.

"I know! I know!" Mario desperately replied. A light bulb emerged from his head, lighting up. "Luigi! Get ready!"

Mario dived forward at Luigi, his body parallel to the ground. Reading his brother's mind, Luigi grabbed Mario's hands and started to spin as if he was using Luigi Tornado, except carrying his brother while spinning.

Suddenly, Luigi heard Mario's voice… inside his mind!

_Luigi… I know Grodus. We can't destroy him with this attack, and five minutes isn't near enough to defeat him._

Luigi, astonished with what was happening, could only think: _What the hell?_

_Luigi!_

…_Sorry. We're screwed either way?_

_Always the pessimistic guy, eh? I know how the laser works, and we only have one chance to do this._

_How?_

Luigi's spin was continuously accelerating, spinning himself and Mario around even faster.

_Past that door over there is the control panel. Your goal in your quest is to destroy all members of the Ring of Darkness, right?_

…_Yeah._

_Then we have not a second to waste. With this, we can kill Grodus and you can go up to the Halberd to face the others. We have no time. You must go into that door and set the mirror that the laser will shoot at **down** at this base._

…_What are you talking about? We'll all die!_

_Exactly._

…_No way. I'm not doing that._

_I'm going to hold off Grodus while you find the others as soon as possible. Get everyone to evacuate. You, Fox, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon have to find the teleportation room that **should** lead to the Halberd._

_Where is it?_

_When you're exiting the elevator on the second basement, take a left, then it should be in the second door on your left. Hurry. You only have five minutes._

_But… You're going to die! What is Peach going to…_

_No. I'm fine. This is the only way._

_But if we can destroy Grodus with our Swing Brothers attack…_

_No! We can't! I know we can't, Grodus isn't even halfway dead yet! He's extremely powerful! He won't go down, I guarantee you that. This attack will give you time to set the mirror down at the base._

_Mario…_

_We'll all die if you don't do it. If we point it down, however, only the base will be destroyed._

_Mario! Why can't we just destroy it…?_

_The mirror is extremely durable, it'll take more than five minutes to destroy it. We can't let it go off into the air either, as the chances that it'll destroy another planet is high._

_But…_

Mario now used his vocal cords. "Listen to me, Luigi!" he desperately cried, still spinning super fast. "This is the only choice we have, I already analyzed it!"

…_Mario…_

"…When we reach maximum velocity, I want you to fire me at Grodus then carry out the plan. _Do you understand?_" Mario asked urgently.

Luigi paused, STILL spinning. _Yes… I do…_

_Good. And one last thing… The next time you visit the Halberd, ask Peach about the Secret Kamek Incident. Do you understand? Memorize that! _Mario replied in Luigi's mind.

_What the…_

_Don't ask questions! You'll learn about it! And once you do, you should know that I regret everything about it!_

The brothers were spinning at maximum velocity now, with Grodus standing now.

"Only four minutes…" he smiled.

"Luigi… You're my brother, it's my duty to look after you. YOU must live," said Mario.

"Mario…" Luigi repeated for the millionth time.

"No buts! Do it! NOW!" Mario instructed.

…_Mario, I'll miss you. I love you… And I've always looked up to you. I want you to know that._

…_I love you too. My brother…_ A tear fell from Mario's eye. _I'll die a hero's death to the end, I'll be happy. It's how I wanted to die. Do not disappoint me. Get ready… set…_

"GO!!!!" Mario and Luigi both screamed at the top of their lungs. Luigi released Mario, sending him flying like a missile at millions of miles per hour at Grodus. Grodus was struck in the stomach by Mario's head, like the Green Missile, and he instantly coughed out blood, stuck against the wall. Luigi instantly rushed through the door that Mario instructed, and Grodus didn't notice.

"You little… You'll pay…" Grodus angrily muttered.

"Bring it now," Mario smiled. He looked back to see Luigi disappear into the room.

* * *

"We should get going now, we've rested enough already," Peach advised. 

Fox and Donkey Kong finally woke up, and nobody mentioned Fox's insanity fit to him.

"Geez, DK…" said Bowser. "You really fucking ripped your own muscles…"

"I win in the end though," DK smiled.

"…We gotta go, dude! For Samus babe!" Captain Falcon cried.

"Still calling her babe, eh?" Fox asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Ha! Never changed, that perverted racer…" Link laughed.

"You're no different from your older self…" Ganondorf grunted. Yoshi laughed out loud.

"Let's go!" Jigglypuff cried. Suddenly, the door opened. All of the smashers whirled around, prepared to defeat whoever appeared.

It was Luigi. He wore an expression of shock and had wide eyes, but it looked as if he was sobbing.

"Luigi? Where's Mario? Where's Grodus?" asked Peach.

"This base is gonna blow in three minutes! Everyone besides me, Fox, Falcon, and Jigglypuff have to evacuate! NOW! You three, follow me, we'll get on the Halberd now!"

"But what about…" Bowser started, but Luigi beat him to it.

"Mario's holding off Grodus right now, and they'll both blow up!"

Everyone gasped.

"No way…"

"EVERYONE, JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!! You three!" Luigi pointed at his three fellow teammates. "Follow me!"

"We're going on the Halberd?" Fox asked anxiously.

"Definitely," Luigi smiled. He led his three companions to the elevator as Peach, DK, Bowser, Yoshi, Link, and Ganondorf evacuated instantly.

"Mario… Why…" Peach muttered.

"I knew that idiot was gonna do something like this someday…" Bowser grunted.

The six left the base, with half a minute remaining on the timer.

* * *

"This is the teleportation room that'll teleport us to the Halberd?" asked Jigglypuff. 

"Yeah, I don't trust you since that Doopliss shit…" Falcon muttered.

"Doopliss is dead! Just follow my lead! We'll get on the Halberd!" Luigi cried, activating the teleportation device that leads to the inside of the Halberd.

"Listen to Luigi! We have to go!"

The four stood on the platform of the teleportation device, and they instantly disappeared in blue light, with one second remaining.

_Mario… My brother…_

* * *

"We're both going to die, you know…" Grodus muttered, his staff in a deadlock with Mario's hammer. His glasses were completely broken, and his arm was torn off by Mario's bloody hammer. 

"Just realized what Luigi did a while ago then?" Mario asked with a smile. His left hand had been completely burned off, and his legs were frozen to the ground. There was an enormous hole in his chest, signifying that he was about to die anyways.

"…Unfortunately just now."

"Then farewell, Grodus, and I hope you bandits fail at your mission."

"Should say the same to you…"

_**BOOM**_


	56. Chapter 56: The Halberd

Hack: Okay! This is THE arc that I've been looking forward to! I've been so excited to start writing the next fights that to be completely honest, I've completely rushed the events in this chapter. This arc will be THE arc of the entire story! These events on the Halberd will be all action and emotion! I believe it'll be my best!

But for now, enjoy the transition chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 56: The Halberd  
**

"I… I can't believe it…" Peach cried, tears flowing through her eyes as the six smashers stood by their hidden base, watching the X-Naut base disappear into huge puffs of smoke. Directly above the smoke cloud was an enormous blue ship.

"I guess the others are up there on the Halberd," said Link. "He did it for them… So they can continue to fight… I wish I could do that…"

Yoshi, the person that knew Mario best that was present, was crying as much as Peach. "That little guy… I saved him as a baby. I know he's… gone now. He… I… feel like I lost a part of myself when it blew up…"

Ganondorf didn't say anything, but it was apparent that he lost something inside of himself as well. He simply looked up, staring at the stars in the dark night sky.

"Damn bastard…" A single teardrop fell from Bowser's eye as well. "He should've fought with me first… Damn… Out of all things to fucking happen…"

"…We should be getting back," said Donkey Kong.

"…Yes," Peach replied. "Get it ready. The funeral, I mean."

"What about Luigi? I'm sure he'd want to pay his respects… And the other smashers too…" Link suggested.

"…We'll wait for him to return then," Peach instructed. "I don't know when, but… I'll be waiting. There's also something he needs to know about him and his brother…"

Yoshi looked up, looking horrified. "No way… Don't… He'll hate Mario… He's much better off knowing…"

"…It's up to Mario, then. It's the event that changed Luigi's life, and if Mario told him to ask me… He has the right to know it. For now, let's get the funeral ready and pay our last respects to the hero and for Luigi…

The hero who saved us all… Mario… We'll never forget you."

* * *

"Luigi… Are you all right?" Jigglypuff calmly asked. 

"Yeah. I'm… fine. This has happened to me before," said Luigi. "I knew it'd happen but… Not this soon…"

Fox placed his hand on Luigi's back. "Don't worry. It'll be fine. We've got a couple Ring of Darkness members to take out now… And there's Samus we have to worry about."

"Yeah…" Luigi still looked completely gloomy, but he looked a bit more cheerful. "I've got time to mourn about it later…"

"Luigi seems to be taking this a lot better than Fox took Falco's death," Jigglypuff whispered to Captain Falcon.

"Dude, Luigi has it a little easier, he knew it was Mario's decision alone, man," Falcon replied with a whisper. "Fox felt more guilty because it really was his fault. But Luigi is definitely taking this a lot better."

"Hm. I concur."

"The Ring of Darkness… They're the reason why my brother died," Luigi muttered. "I'm going to take down as many as I can, no matter the odds."

Luigi took this moment to finally inspect the room around him. They didn't know if they were in the Halberd or not just from the looks of the room, but because they heard the roaring wind turbines every second, they knew they were on the Halberd, or at least some sort of flying ship. The secluded room was a simple metal room with the control panel for the dead teleportation device. It had just broken down the moment the smashers emerged from it.

Fox took out a sheet of paper from his pockets and a pen, then laid it on a table.

"Oh, right, you've infiltrated it before," Jigglypuff commented. (remember a LONG time ago before Fox landed on Eagleland!) "You know the layout of the ship, right?"

"The general idea," replied Fox. "I know where the main control room is, and I know this room. We're six floors below the main control room. Look…"

Fox drew five gigantic rectangles on the sheet of paper, each on top of each other. Below the bottom rectangle, he drew a thinner rectangle extending to one side and connected it to a small square. "This square is where we are right now, a simple room part of a hall. This hall is right across from the combat tower, where we'll face several enemies. We have to come outside to enter through another door, to the first floor of the battle rooms. The Control Center is on the top of the tower."

"Pfft, I can take care of them!" Falcon boasted.

"I doubt the Ring of Darkness doesn't know about our presence, though…" Jigglypuff muttered.

"Knowing Wolf, I'm sure they all want to face us one on one… It's their pride," explained Fox.

"Good thing too, it's exactly what I want…" Luigi grumbled. "To get back at Alex…"

"I'm sure those bastards know where we are too…" Falcon grumbled as well. "So those huge rectangles are big and suitable for fighting arenas?"

"Precisely," replied Fox. "And Samus should be in the control room, which is the top rectangle."

Luigi slammed a hand on the table. "Our top priority… Save Samus. Defeating the Ring of Darkness is not the most important thing right now. For me… It's all to honor Mario."

_These deaths… Is it all what this quest has come down to?_ Captain Falcon thought. _Damn… I don't want another incident like that past incident before…_

_No… Not again… I'm not going to let anyone else fucking die._

"We can't waste a second," said Luigi.

Jigglypuff nodded. "Right. We have to go. Now."

Luigi cringed at the pain throughout his entire body; he still didn't completely recover from Grodus's bolting attack, but he didn't dare show any weaknesses to his opponent or his friends. He didn't want anyone to worry about his injuries…

Or his brother…

"I'll go first," Luigi suggested.

"You sure?" everyone else asked.

Luigi nodded, playing with his gloves. "Don't worry, I'm a lot more powerful now."

* * *

"Looks like they finally came on here, Samus," said Metaknight. "You can't say that you weren't expecting them, were you?" 

Samus was completely silent. "Idiots… I already told them…"

Metaknight drew his sword. "Well… We promised that we wouldn't kill them if they didn't come back. Obviously they did, so we have your permission."

"…"

"Everyone! Get ready!" Metaknight called out. Wolf, Alex, Gigyas, and Black Shadow came to his attention. "We're separating ourselves into separate rooms. We're going to take them out once and for all. Samus, **you** are going to stay here. Don't even **think** about escaping."

Samus simply gave an emotionless nod.

Gigyas, in his human form, was a handsome man but clearly able to destroy with his own hands and psychic powers. Like a secret FBI agent, he wore a black suit and black sunglasses, also carrying several guns on the sides of his pants. He wore a black necktie, hanging down to his stomach. His brown eyes can shoot through anyone's glare, petrifying them with fear. At least to anyone weaker than him.

He was considered on Metaknight's level of power, directly below Alex.

Metaknight smirked. _And I'm going to see if that Fox man has become worthy of me… By now, he should have became much more powerful…_

"We'll get into separate spots, guarding each. Don't let any reach Samus," Metaknight commanded.

"Usual power formation, then?" Wolf smirked. Metaknight nodded.

"That means me on the bottom, Wolf on second, Black Shadow on third, Metaknight on fourth, and Gigyas on the balcony," said Alex, giving a slight frown.

"I'm taking care of any idiots that try to come at me…" Gigyas growled.

"Let's go everyone, then!" Metaknight cried, raising his metal sword.

"SAMUS!!!"

"Crud… Too late… Everyone, separate, now! Samus, don't you DARE leave!"

Samus gave a heartless nod. Metaknight, Black Shadow, Wolf, Alex, and Gigyas left the room, leaving her alone.

_It doesn't make a damn difference if I'm alone or not… Life is too precious for me. Why the hell did those idiots come for me? Don't they know that I deserve to die?_

_Why… Is that Luigi?_

* * *

Metaknight stood in the fourth floor of the arena tower, directly below the control panel at the top of the tower. Five minutes had already passed. "When are the challengers coming? I'd expect them to come any second!" He tapped his feet impatiently. Each floor of the arena tower consisted of several steel metal platforms stuck together. The walls were simple glass windows, yet they looked extremely durable. One portion of a wall, however, led to a group of stairs, undoubtedly leading to the next floor. 

Metaknight looked out of the glass wall and what he saw immediately shocked him.

Luigi was standing over the unconscious body of Gigyas, without a single scratch on him! Luigi was wearing a mask of victory over his face, smirking over his dead enemy. Gigyas's body was severely burned, and had several fist marks on his face. Black smoke steamed from his body as Luigi cried out,

"IT'S TIME!!!"

Fox, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon rushed out from the hall on the opposite side of the ship, running towards the Arena Tower. Luigi took the lead and led them into the tower.

"Nice job, Luigi," Fox smirked.

"Thanks," Luigi smiled. _It's all for you, Mario…_

Falcon just noticed something different about Luigi. "Dude, what happened to your clothing?"

Luigi flexed his gloves. "My new weapon. It's definitely going to defeat Alex."

"…That weapon you've been stitching all the time?"

Luigi nodded. "And I know it works; I used it to escape an attack with Wario and Waluigi." He was wearing silver gloves, hat, and boots. The shirt and pants underneath his blue overalls were now white.

"Ah. Damn, it must be powerful, but I've got more sexy tricks up my sleeve!"

"And you've been showing it off all the time, so Wolf surely knows about them," Jigglypuff joked. Falcon frowned.

"Sha-dup!"

The group continued to run. Suddenly, Luigi stopped.

"You all, go ahead to the stairs."

"Why?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Just go. I'll hold him off."

Fox smiled. He knew whom Luigi was talking about. "Let's go, everyone."

Fox, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon left Luigi isolated in the room as they went up the stairs. The moment they disappeared from sight, Luigi turned around, smirking. "I know you're there, Alex, and I've been itching for a serious rematch."

Alex appeared from the puddle of water behind Luigi. "Very well, then, but be sure that I'm not an easy enemy to face!"

Luigi sneered at his enemy. "Let's get going then!"

* * *

"Come on, Samus babe, hang on!" Falcon cried. 

"I doubt she could hear you from the top," Fox muttered, giving a nice joking smile.

Jigglypuff let out a scream. "Falcon! Above you!" she cried.

Captain Falcon looked up just to block a powerful kick from Wolf O'Donnell. "It's you!" he snarled.

Wolf smiled. "I've been lusting to shed your blood, you bastard…"

"You two, get my babe back!" Falcon cried.

Fox and Jigglypuff paused. "Don't lose, Captain Falcon!" Jigglypuff cried as she and her partner ran up the stairs again to the third floor.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to my friend, Samus…" Falcon snarled at Wolf, still in a deadlock with arms and legs.

"What are you gonna do about it, little punk?" Wolf replied.

KABAM!

The two speed fighters separated, finding themselves at opposite walls of the room and preparing to give this fight their all.

* * *

"Jigglypuff! Stop!" Fox held out a hand to stop Jigglypuff from running. They were both standing in the middle of the room. "Do you sense that?" 

Jigglypuff nodded. "Lots of dark energy… Traps… Something that he would do…"

Fox nodded as well. "He's all yours. Be careful, Jiggs… I'm heading up to save Samus."

Fox sped, weaving in here and there as if dodging invisible traps. He ran to the stairs and ran up to the floor with Metaknight.

Jigglypuff looked blankly into the room. "I know you're there, Black Shadow, your tricks can't fool us!"

Black Shadow teleported in, smirking. "You noticed my invisible black holes? Very nice, very nice…"

"Be quiet. I'm going to do to you what I should have done to you a long time ago…"

"Oh? Is that a threat?" Black Shadow taunted.

Jigglypuff nodded. "Destroy you right here right now."

* * *

"So Fox… We meet again." 

"Get to the meat, Metaknight, where is Samus?" Fox demanded, drawing his staff and blaster.

"She's directly above me," Metaknight explained, drawing his sword as well. "But you can only reach her if you or your friends can get past me…"

"That's no problem!" Fox grinned, itching to fight Metaknight again for the fourth time.

"Show me your growth in power, Fox! Show me how powerful you've become! Show me how far you can get to passing me!

Now come, Fox!"


	57. Chapter 57: Fire, Lightning, Water, Ice

Hack: Here's the first of the five grand fights of the arc! It'll last two chapters and it'll be very epic! (In my honest opinion). Luigi versus Alex!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 57: Fire, Lightning, Water, & Ice**

Alex drew his water blade out with his right hand and pointed it at Luigi, who wielded his lightning sword and fire shield. "So you're the one who defeated Gigyas…" said Alex. "This should be an interesting challenge… Killed him within five minutes, if I'm correct."

Luigi simply nodded. "Not worth my time."

"You're right. He's not worth your time. He may be able to unleash Ren Kiu, but you killed him instantly because he underestimated you and decided to play with you. He is much stupider than the others.

I am not as stupid as Gigyas, and you will fall before my psyenergy."

_Psyenergy? What the heck is that? Some sort of magic thing? I think Samus talked about it a bit while researching Alchemy… Pah! Like I should need to know my brother's murderer's friend!_

Both opponents faced each other for what seemed like an eternity, as if daring the other to attack.

Thunder clapped outside the Halberd. The lightning struck the side of the Halberd, yet barely harming it, but it violently shook it, arousing the fighting spirits of both fighters.

KA-BOOM!

Luigi and Alex both ran at each other, wielding their elemental weapons.

SHING!

WOOSH!

Yellow lightning sparks collided with blue water bubbles as the swords of lightning and water collided, each trying to reach their opponent's owner.

Luigi thrusted his sword at Alex's waist.

Alex spun to the side, using the momentum of his spin to swing his sword horizontally at the side of Luigi's stomach.

Luigi retracted his sword and jumped over Alex's sword, performing a quick flip in the air, following by a downward slash down at Alex's head.

Alex blocked the slash with his sword, keeping Luigi suspended in the air in a deadlock between swords. Alex held out his left hand, charging some sort of attack. Luigi opened his eyes wide and flung himself off of Alex's sword, landing on the other side of the room.

"Too bad. This attack's for long range," said Alex, predicting Luigi's evasive move. "_Froth Spiral!_"

Several enormous bubbles emerged from his left palm, shooting towards Luigi. Luigi prepared to block with his fire shield, but…

_Shit… using fire to block water isn't really a smart thing to do…_

Luigi withdrew his flame shield into his small device on his wrist, then he held out his left hand, firing electricity at all of the bubbles that were forming a wall, continuously approaching him.

Before his electric bolts struck the bubbles, however, the bubbles from Froth Spiral split apart! Luigi looked around to find himself surrounded by bubbles, which were closing in on him… Fast. Luigi frantically swung his sword around and fired several bolt balls around him, trying to destroy as many bubbles as possible, but there were just too many.

All of the remaining bubbles struck him at the same time. Luigi fell to the ground, gagging and spitting out water painfully. He had just felt like he almost drowned and survived consciously. Puddles of water were scattered everywhere around Luigi, bubbles still fizzing.

"Like the power of water psyenergy?" Alex gibed at Luigi. "Your fire is no match for it, and neither is your electricity. However, water isn't all I can do…" Alex flicked his left hand again. Luigi stood up, ready to counter any attack that Alex was about to deliver. "There's water around you, giving me an advantage! A weakness!"

"Bring it on," said Luigi, ignoring Alex's threats.

"_Ice Missile!_" Alex cried.

All of the bubbles around the now standing Luigi (albeit still coughing) suddenly flew up into the air and formed several water spires. Suddenly, all of them froze in place! Looking confused, Luigi looked at the icicles before he just noticed that their points were all pointing at him! And he was completely surrounded again!

All of the thin, sharp icicles flew at Luigi from every possible direction. Thinking quickly to avoid being stabbed everywhere, Luigi drew his flame shield and turned his electric sword off. He immediately crouched and held his flame shield to his left, blocking and melting all icicles from one side. With his right hand he released a wide yet weak beam of fire, conserving his energy. The heat was enough to instantly melt the ice, though, narrowly avoiding the deadly Ice Missile attack.

Luigi looked around, undoubtedly for Alex. "Where are you, Alex?" he called out. "I've got no time for your games!"

"You call this a game?" A sneering voice boomed throughout the entire room. "Then this'll be a game of death…"

Luigi felt the puddle below his feet turn slippery and instinctively jumped away, almost slipping at the same time. Good thing he jumped away too; a huge ice stalactite shot up from what used to be a large puddle of water, pointed directly up.

Luigi looked below him to find himself standing on top of another puddle of water! He jumped away again, and the same happened to that. Luigi flipped in the air to divert his falling direction away from the puddles of water.

A puddle of water literally _moved_ to where Luigi was about to land. Alex emerged from it, pointing his water sword up at Luigi. Unable to react, Luigi fell on top of the sword, through his stomach.

"GACK!!!!"

Alex's water sword had a similar effect as Luigi's electric sword; it didn't deal physical damage, but rather internal pain upon contact. Luigi's stomach filled up with water, causing him to feel sick. He also felt several icicles stab the spot where the sword struck, causing his stomach to bleed everywhere.

Luigi fell to the ground on his stomach, groaning. Alex pointed his water sword at Luigi, standing over him.

"You and I are on different levels, my friend," Alex smirked.

Using every last bit of his strength, Luigi lifted his legs up, using his arms to balance his lying body over the floor, and shot his legs at Alex's stomach. Alex grunted as he was shoved backwards a few feet, giving Luigi the few seconds he needed to stand up again and recover his strength.

Alex caught on quickly. "You're not ready to die yet, eh?"

Luigi shook his head. "Sorry, I'm hard to kill."

"I see. I shall finish this soon, then. _Deluge!_"

Luigi's memories of what happened in Hyrule flashed before his eyes.

_"Deluge…" An enormous column of water engulfed Luigi, entering his lungs. Once the water cleared out, Luigi lied down on the ground on his back, holding his chest._

Luigi immediately wavedashed forward, leaving the enormous column of water behind him and reaching Alex within arm's length. Unfortunately, Alex was ready.

"_Diamond Berg_!"

A column of ice fell on top of Luigi, instantly freezing him inside the iceberg. Luigi attempted to move any part of his body, but he couldn't do anything at all. His legs and arms were trapped under ice. Coldness covered every inch on his body, turning coldness into pain. Luigi wanted to scream out in pain, but the ice around him prevented him from opening his mouth. He could only watch through his eyes as Alex used the next part of his psyenergy ability.

Alex was carrying a real blade… An actual silver blade! He held it from the side, smirking.

"Good bye."

He hacked away at the iceberg containing Luigi with his sword. Strangely, every time his sword hacked a part of the iceberg, Luigi felt like a physical part of body was literally cut off! If he could scream out in agony and pain, he would, but his body was completely trapped in the ice.

It only got worse once Alex literally reached Luigi's body. Alex thrusted his sword directly into Luigi's chest, piercing through his entire body. Luigi would have let out an earsplitting scream if he was free from the ice, but only his bleeding chest was protruding from the ice.

_This is it… I'm going to die here of pain… Pain much stronger than Mewtwo's psychic… I'm going to die here… I have no idea how I'm going to survive…_

_No! I can't die! I have to avenge my brother! I have to destroy the Ring of Darkness! I HAVE to beat Alex, no matter the costs!_

_…I got it! Jigglypuff told me you can thaw yourself out with it…_

Directly before Alex struck Luigi with his sword again, Alex's eyes widened in shock. Fire surrounded Luigi, melting all the ice around him.

"_Flame Wheel!_"

Just as Jigglypuff thawed herself several times in her fight against the Crystal King, Luigi broke out of the ice using the weak yet effective Flame Wheel. Despite the pain ringing through his chest, he fired several more flame wheels at Alex, who was still in shock of what just happened. Before he knew what hit him, his body was set alit.

"GAHHH!!!" Alex cried, immediately using Douse to drop water on himself and drench the fire off of his body.

Luigi looked at his wound, still cringing. It didn't look THAT bad, he'd most certainly been through worse.

Such as his amputated foot from his fight with Leon…

Luckily, Alex's sword didn't strike any crucial body parts, so Luigi was able to continue fighting. With determination from thinking about revenge for his brother, Luigi was able to move.

And he wasn't going to let Alex off that easily!

But Alex raised his hands again, not in too much pain. "_Glacier!_"

The entire floor was literally frozen instantly, but Luigi knew better than to let Alex take advantage of the arena advantage.

"_Flame Wheel!_"

Luigi used his mind to toss several fire wheels again across the arena which resembled an ice-skating rink now. Whatever portion of ice each fire wheel traveled above, that portion melted instantly, revealing the original warm portion of the floor, just quite wet.

Alex smirked. He knew Luigi was going to melt the floor, giving him a further advantage with the slightly flooded floor, where the water level reached up to their ankles. Luigi had just realized this too.

_Shit!_

"_Ice Missile!_"

Millions of icicles emerged from the water again, this time more than ten times more than before! Luigi looked around frantically, looking for a way to defend himself. His flame shield couldn't hold up against this many icicles in so many directions; the same applied to his fire attacks with his right hand.

SHING!

Every single thin icicle shot like needles through the air, piercing an inch deep into Luigi's skin at every possible millimeter. Luigi screamed in pain as he had just turned into a porcupine. Blood flowed from every hole on his body. This was much worse than when the Zinger shot millions of stingers at Fox.

Luigi staggered, then engulfed himself with harmless, warm fire, melting all of the icicles. The water that the ice melted into flowed away some of his blood, but it didn't make much difference as he couldn't stop the bleeding.

But he certainly wasn't going to give up, despite the wound in his chest. Gritting his teeth, Luigi jumped into the air and clung to the wall with his feet.

"There's water around you, giving me an advantage! A weakness!" Luigi repeated Alex's previous words. Alex looked confused.

"…What?"

"_Bolting!_"

From the ceiling, several lightning bolts fell on various spots on the ground. However, since the ground was flooded by a few inches of water, water conducted electricity, and Alex was standing in the water.

Anyone can add those three facts together.

Alex's body was instantly electrocuted from the electricity flowing through the water. He yelled in pain, feeling hundreds of volts of electricity flow through his body and disorienting parts in his body. Black smoke emerged from his body as he staggered, clinging to the wall behind him.

Luigi, who was unharmed since he was clinging on the wall and not in the water, pointed at Alex, as if taunting him.

"You and I are on different levels."

Alex gritted his teeth in anger. Although Luigi did make a slight comeback, Alex clearly still had the upper hand in this fight.

"You little… bastard… I've been saving this for a while now… I'll finish this quick by summoning…"

"Summoning?" Luigi asked, unsure of what was about to happen.

"AZUL! I SUMMON YOU!!!!" Alex cried, releasing seven orbs of light from his hands. Three of them were bright yellow while the other four were calm blue.

Luigi suddenly found himself on a beach environment. _What the hell is happening?_

Suddenly, an enormous blue snake-like dragon grabbed Luigi from the water in his mouth! The dragon's jaws clamped on Luigi so hard that it stunned his entire body, paralyzing him. It drew Luigi down and down into an underwater environment, then released him.

Luigi, intent on escaping from this monstrous beast, started to swim upwards, but before he could even come close to breaking the surface, an enormous energy blast was fired at him, exploding upon contact on his body.

KABOOM!

Luigi's body flowed underwater, almost nearing death. He twitched painfully here and there, unable to move any more.

But Azul wasn't done yet. He grabbed Luigi again with his jaws and drew him _further_ down underwater! When he reached sea level, miles below the surface, Azul shot upwards at millions miles per hour, causing Luigi's stomach to implode from the sudden change in water pressure! The moment Azul broke the surface, there was an explosion.

Luigi's body exploded.

Luigi fell back into the arena room, groaning in pain and grabbing his stomach. He immediately threw up into the watery ground, vomit flowing on the surface a few inches above the ground.

"Liked that? An illusion that makes you feel the pain… Making you an easy target…" Alex mocked. "And now that you're weakened severely…"

"HACK… COUGH… Did anyone tell… ACK… you that you talked too much?" Luigi gave a faint smile, barely kneeling up.

Alex was taken aback. Before he could react, Luigi used every ounce of strength to jump at Alex, landing on top of Alex's chest. He instantly grabbed Alex's head and charged electricity and fire simultaneously through Alex's body, burning and shocking every inch. Alex screamed from the burns and shocks he just received. Luigi jumped off of him then fell to the ground, panting. Alex staggered, and then fell backwards as well.

"You… Are stronger than I thought…" Alex panted, trying to stand up again by using his sword to prop himself up.

"Likewise… But it's my will… To avenge my brother…" Luigi replied, leaning against the wall painfully.

"I'm in much better shape than you… And you are worthy… I know I cannot kill you in this form…" Alex muttered.

"What are… you talking about?" Luigi asked, still panting and holding his bleeding chest painfully. He spat to the side, revealing bits of vomit in the water.

"…This… REN KIU!!! ULYSSES, FORM!!!!" Alex cried, holding his hands up into the air. His body shone a bright white, as if he was about to explode.

…_Shit, I'm fucked…_ Luigi thought. _At this rate I'm going to die…_


	58. Chapter 58: Can't Take One Step Back

Hack: Concluding the Luigi vs. Alex fight, and going to start the next fight. Behold one of my greatest fights, or at least in my opinion.

You better enjoy it… (innocent smile)

* * *

**Chapter 58: Can't Take One Step Back**

Alex was dressed in completely different clothing. No longer did he wear the black and blue shirt and pants, and no longer did he have a sheath wrapped on his back. In fact, his facial features were completely changed! His long, sleek blue hair turned into a more curly black hair flowing behind him. His face was more round, but his eyes were much sharper than before. His nose was noticeably smaller. Around his neck was some sort of traditional red scarf flowing with his hair. Like an old-fashioned Japanese man, he wore robes that flowed to the bottom. His top was red and white while his robes stretching to the bottom resembled some sort of blue skirt.

In short, Alex transformed in the figure of Ulysses.

Luigi was puzzled by this sudden transformation. _This is his Ren Kiu? Looks like he just changed into some robes…_

Luigi had just realized that all of Alex's wounds were instantly healed when he transformed, putting Luigi at a major disadvantage. He still had the painful chest wound, and his stomach was still churning in pain from Alex's summoning attack.

_Curses…_

"How do you like it?" Alex sneered, floating above the ground. "Combined with the Endowment of Exigency and the power of the Golden Sun… You have no hope of defeating me!"

"Golden Sun? What the heck are you talking about?"

"Never mind you. Prepare to die." Alex stretched both of his arms out, carrying a card in each hand.

"Cards? I thought you used swords…" Luigi commented, still coughing.

Alex said nothing as he tossed both cards at Luigi. Luigi pushed every bit of his body to wavedash backwards in the water, dodging both cards, which fell down to the ground.

WOOSH!

Both cards suddenly flew upwards, directly at Luigi's face! They immediately exploded, spraying bubbles of water that pierced through Luigi's skin. It wasn't too painful for him, but it caused him to stagger back, giving Alex time to get closer.

"Little plumber… Prepare to die!!!!" Alex cried as he carried cards in both of his hands. The cards instantly transformed into sharp swords of ice, swinging them at Luigi. Luigi could only counter by wielding his lightning sword and flame shield, which didn't melt the swords!

After a few seconds, Luigi's fatigue took over. Alex's sword pushed Luigi back, and he made no effort to counter. Alex used his left free arm to shoot his sword forward, striking the exact same wound that he inflicted before with Diamond Berg.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Luigi cried as Alex retracted sword. Luigi's wound was completely frozen, the ice flowing through his entire body. But Alex didn't give him time to lick his wounds. He held his hands out again, whispering, "_Deluge…_"

Alex's Deluge attack in his Ren Kiu form was much, much more powerful than before. The column of water shot out faster from the ground, covering a larger radius of area. The column of water struck the ceiling, shooting jets of water everywhere. Luigi was unfortunately caught in the initial attack and pushed into the ceiling, feeling the pressure of the water threatening to crush his frail body into the ceiling.

* * *

"…Luigi…" Spekkio muttered, shedding a tear for every cry of pain Luigi let out. 

"Yes… This is his fate," explained Gaspar. "But we know the result of the fight…"

"What is it?"

"That I cannot tell."

"Awww… You're no fun…"

"Yet Luigi will still live… Though barely. These turns of events will shape the future of the universe… Especially his reactions after learning of his own past as an adolescent."

"The only one alive that remembers it is Toadsworth, right?"

"Precisely, but he already informed Peach about it, in case the need for the information should arise and he is dead. He is already dying of old age… A pity…"

"You know anything about Samus's future yet?"

"…I do not know. It all depends on her faith in her friends, if any is left… We'll have to wait until the smashers learn of her story…

The story of Adam…"

* * *

Luigi's body was about to tear apart from the multiple Deluge attacks Alex released. 

"_Deluge! Deluge! Deluge! Deluge!_ Just die already!" Alex cried out, his robes already sweating from his concentration on destroying Luigi.

Luigi's body was constantly pumped into the ceiling by several columns of water, blood splattering everywhere. Luigi had no more energy to do anything; he could only grunt in pain. He had not the energy to even scream.

_No… I can't do it… I'm not strong enough… Even THAT won't beat him… I don't have the energy…_

_Are you sure? It's for your brother…_

…_I can't avenge you, Mario… I'm pathetic, I can't even defeat the weakest of the top officials…_

_Mario is up there, watching you… Are you sure you want to think like that?_

…_Yes. I'm going to die here…_

_No…_

_Yes, I will!_

_No, you won't! Remember your brother's words… Remember everything he taught you about life… About fighting… About friends… Your older brother… And he sacrificed himself to save a loved one…_

* * *

"_Mario, how do you push yourself so much, to the limit where your body almost dies off?" Luigi asked his brother on a peaceful day._

_Mario shrugged. "Depends. What kind of fight are you talking about?"_

"_I'm talking about when you fought Bowser to save Peach, or even used all of your strength to defeat Cackletta to save Bowser. Heck, I can't use that energy to beat Cackletta without you."_

"_Friends, your loved ones."_

"_Huh?"_

"_When you want to save someone… You feel like you have to push yourself. I'm not talking about avenging someone, I'm not talking about helping someone else… I'm talking about saving one's life. If you want to push yourself to save someone's life, you have to give it your all," Mario explained with his wise words. "If the person is that important, whether it be love, friendship, or rivalry… You WILL push yourself to the end. Peach, I love both as a friend and as a princess. Bowser, I love as a friendly rival. I save Donkey Kong and Yoshi as friends, and you, I love as a brother."_

_Luigi blushed at Mario's words about him. "Thanks… I still kinda don't understand though…"_

"_Heh…"_

* * *

_No matter what, you have to save Samus._

…_I finally understand what Mario said. All of his lessons are coming back… All of his lessons about life. They're finally coming together like jigsaw puzzles… I can't believe it…_

_You understand now?_

_…__I understand. I'm going to shoot for it, save Samus, no matter if I die or not._

_That's the spirit!_

Luigi coughed out blood as he flipped himself in the air, landing on his feet. Before Alex used another Deluge attack, Luigi wavedashed backwards to the wall, distancing himself from Alex more, and avoiding the powerful Deluge attack.

"You've finally come to your senses, eh? Take this! _Diamond Berg_!!!!!" Alex cried.

An enormous ice sheet almost the size of the room's floor fell on top of Luigi, encasing him again. This time, Alex let loose millions of paper cards to hack away at the ice, causing Luigi's frozen body to feel the stinging pain through every inch of his body.

ZING! CLANG! SHING!

Alex finally slashed away all of the ice, leaving several cut marks on Luigi's body. His green clothing were no longer green, they were so stained that he looked like a taller version of Mario. However, Luigi continued to stand, despite being on the brink of death.

"Not dead yet, eh?" said Alex. "THIS should finish you! _Ice Missile!_"

Luigi suddenly felt the water disappear from his feet, and the room was no longer flooded. Instead, almost every cubic inch of the room was taken over by a thin ice needle. There were literally a million ice needles pointing directly at Luigi! (not a hyperbole like before)

Luigi bled even more as he moved his arms to cover his face. All of the ice missiles shot at him, each shooting through his entire body. Pain ringed through his entire body again as he let out a horrifying scream. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, no longer cushioned by the flooded room.

"Finally… You've become a lot stronger than before, I'll give you that…" Alex stood over Luigi. "But I'm still levels above you, little plumber… what?"

Luigi staggered, still standing, though barely. He glared at Alex with his bloody face, holding his open palms out. He was heavily breathing, coughing periodically and his expression still showed that his stomach was still recovering from Azul's attack from before. However, his facial expression also showed something: determination.

"What… Why? Why are you still alive?" Alex cried out. "You're much tougher than I recalled, but this will finish you! _Extremecool!_"

Millions of misty icicles popped up from the ground, stabbing Luigi from below and bringing down his body's temperature even further. Mist surrounded him as the icicles retracted, but Luigi still stood!

"No… _Freeze Prism!_" Alex yelled at the top of his lungs.

Millions upon millions of ice prisms fell from the ceiling, all dropping down on top of Luigi. Each strike caused his to cringe in pain and forced him closer to the ground until he was lying on his stomach again, almost dead.

"And for the finishing touch… _Diamond Berg!!!_"

Diamond Berg again. Luigi was frozen for the third time underneath the iceberg, and he was far too weak to thaw himself. Alex tore Luigi's body apart again by hacking away at the ice with the cards of Ulysses.

Luigi finally fell to the ground, closing his eyes. His body couldn't go on anymore.

"You're a persistent guy, aren't you?" said Alex, gritting his teeth in annoyance. "But your body can't handle anymore. _Ice Missile!_"

Luigi screamed as several needles flew through him again, and he still staggered, trying to stand.

"You… Ack…" Luigi fell down again, then shivered in cold, but determined to stand back up.

"Why? Why?" Alex screamed. "Why… WHY! Why do you still persist? Why are you still alive? Just _why_ do you want to fight when you're about to die? JUST DIE ALREADY!"

"Because of my brother…" Luigi muttered, standing back up again. He leaned against the wall, panting heavily, and his eyes half blind from the blood. "I can never…"

"_Take a step back," said Mario. He pulled back his right foot and tapped it on the ground. "If you take a step back, you will lose sight of your true goal. It will become impossible to succeed. Always, ALWAYS keep moving forward._ (That's all the way back from chapter eleven, all planned out!)

"What is your goal? Surely it's to destroy me, right?" Alex asked, still very ticked off.

Luigi shook his head. "No, but it'd… help… I have to save my loved ones… Samus… My friend, and my other friends up there are fighting to save her. If I lose… I can't help them. If I lose sight of this goal, then I will never accomplish it. If I ever take a step back… No.

I can't take one step back."

Alex wiped his face, mimicking a crying emotion. "Awww, that's so sweet! It's so sweet… That you're about to die."

Luigi shrugged off his gloves, boots, and hat, then he pulled his green shirt out of his blue overalls, wearing only blue pants and overalls. "You're biggest mistake… The same as Gigyas… Underestimating me…"

"Pah! What are you talking about? You can't do anything now!"

Luigi pulled on silver gloves, boots, and a hat, then he slowly put on a white shirt. "You're biggest mistake…" he muttered, still breathing heavily.

"That's it, you're dead! _Froth Spiral!_"

This time, instead of a couple hundred, a million bubbles formed around Alex, then shot towards Luigi, surrounding him at the same time. Luigi crouched down, bending his knees.

The moment the bubbles collided, there was a loud…

BOOM!

All of the bubbles instantly exploded, and two small craters were formed… Right where Luigi was standing. One crater looked completely charred, while the other still had a few lighting volts running through it visible. Widening his eyes in shock, Alex looked up to see Luigi on the ceiling, still dripping in blood.

"What just… happened…?" Alex muttered, for the first time sounding unsure of what was about to happen.

Luigi, clinging on the ceiling, drew back his right fist then shot it in the direction of where Alex stood. However, nothing physically extraordinary didn't happen. Luigi's arm didn't suddenly shoot out or anything, he looked like he just punched straight into the air blindly.

The moment Luigi shot his fist out, Alex was sent flying to the side, one side of his face charred black and bent as if it was punched brutally. Alex staggered, then stood up, looking up at Luigi again.

"That… was pretty painful…" Alex held a hand out, then closed his eyes. "_Pure Ply…_"

Blue sparks floated above Alex and started to descend towards him, but Luigi knew exactly what he was about to do: Heal himself! Luigi activated his fire shield, then with all of his might, he threw it like a javelin between Alex's head and the blue sparks. The sparks struck the shield at the last second, then flew up… towards Luigi!

BLING!

Luigi didn't know how it happened, but it somehow happened. The Pure Ply ability reflected off of his fire shield and backfired to Luigi, healing him! Most of the pain through his body was gone, and the bleeding in his chest wound stopped (although the wound was still evident, still stinging severely). Every single spot that an ice needle shot through was completely healed as well. The blood splattered all over Luigi disappeared.

In short, Alex's healing spell backfired and healed Luigi.

"Guh… Wha… What just happened?" Alex sputtered, staring at his hands in disbelief.

Luigi didn't say anything. With a hundred times more confidence than before, as well as a much more able body, his legs gave a loud explosion and he shot down to the ground, landing on his feet.

"You… You! You are going to DIE!!! _Ice Missile!_"

"You know what these do?" Luigi asked as the missiles were formed.

"…What?"

"These allow me to use any physical attack from afar, as long as I aim it correctly. I can add a fire or lightning attribute to them too. My punches and kicks are far more powerful than before with these on. Range is not a problem with my new weapon. My kicks… give an explosion, allowing me to shoot away from wherever I aim, like a missile."

"No! I refuse to let you win!" Alex threw his hand out, firing all of the ice needles at Luigi.

This time, Luigi was prepared. "Luigi Cyclone!" He held his arms out, just as Mario used Mario Tornado, then spun. His fists spun in every direction, but what was remarkable was the fact that with his new weapon, an invisible fire fist shattered every single ice missile!

Alex took a step back, now shivering with fear. "No… No… Even…"

"Prepare to die, Alex!" Luigi bellowed from the other side of the room. However, distance was no problem. He swung a karate chop horizontally, striking the side of Alex's neck with an electric force. Luigi bent his knees and kicked off, firing himself to the left of Alex like a missile. While flying, he threw his right leg at Alex accurately, leaving a burning footprint on Alex's face. Luigi flipped in midair and landed on the wall, then kicked off again, hitting Alex once more with a fiery punch from afar.

Now directly above Alex, Luigi let loose a fierce drill kick, kicking off of Alex's stomach several times. Each time Alex grunted from one strike, an enormous lightning bolt of electricity flew off of his body, illustrating that he was constantly being shocked.

Luigi landed directly next to Alex, glaring down at him. Alex's robes were strewn across the floor messily, and his hair was completely charred black now. He struggled to speak again.

"You… no… _Deluge! Deluge… De…luge…_"

Luigi smirked. "You have no more psyenergy. I know of your power now. Your psyenergy cannot harm me now, because you ran out of your magic power. You used too many attacks earlier. Trying to heal yourself was a big mistake.

Compare healing yourself from a minor injury with me not healing myself after what I've just been through."

Alex stood up again, though barely. The positions have switched now, Luigi now looking down at Alex. Luigi began to walk away.

"You're lucky. I'm here to save Samus and help my friends save her, not kill you… At the moment."

By the time Luigi reached the stairs leading up, Alex held out his hand, whispering, "_Ice…_" A feeble icicle fell from the sky, but it disappeared before it even reached Luigi. Luigi held his right fist up, black smoke flowing from it.

"You really want to die that much? GREEN MISSILE!" Luigi charged his butt, pointing his head at the almost unconscious Alex, then released. He flew only a few feet forward, but his hat signified that it did more than just make him fly forward.

An invisible force struck Alex's body with both fire and lightning, creating a large explosion. Alex's body was sent flying out of the window and on the balcony of the Halberd, directly on top of Gigyas's carcass.

"Like I said, I can't take one step back. Everyone else, hold on… I'm coming to help you…" Luigi began to run up the stairs.


	59. Chapter 59: Pinned Down

Hack: To be completely honest, if there's one thing I really regret from the very start of this fic, it's the fact that I chose Captain Falcon to be one of the main character. Yes, he's got a distinct personality, but it's very hard to make him a more developed character like Fox and Luigi have been recently, and it's very hard to 'upgrade' his fighting abilities. It's also very hard to describe his fights. I admit, I might not have done a very good job with this chapter.

So if you're disappointed in this Captain Falcon vs. Wolf fight, I wouldn't be surprised. But I'm not revealing everything that they're both capable of, because… well we'll keep that a secret.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 59: Pinned Down**

"Yeah! I knew you could do it, Luigi!" Spekkio smiled as he clapped.

Gaspar shook his head. "This is bad news… I knew Luigi would defeat Alex, yet…"

"What's so bad about that?"

"Luigi _barely_ defeated Alex, yet he's the most powerful out of the five smashers, excluding Samus. Alex is the weakest of the top Ring of Darkness members. Do the math. Chances are, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Fox will not win, and if they do, they will barely win."

"…" Spekkio let out a long string of curse words that would cause this story to drift out of the Teen rating. "What do you think of Captain Falcon and Wolf?"

"Wolf is definitely one of the weakest members if Ren Kiu is not taken into consideration. He's actually weaker than Grodus. However, if he transforms…" Gaspar shook his head.

"Falcon will have a hard time."

* * *

"It's useless. You know you can't get past me, little damn punk," Wolf grinned. 

"So? I'll fucking beat you someday! We're here to get back Samus!" Captain Falcon replied.

"You'll find that it'll be a bit hard to get that little bitch back on your side," Wolf sneered at Falcon. "She's pretty much set to stay with us."

"No, she's not!!"

Wolf sighed. "You're loss. It's a lost cause. Too bad you aren't close to as fast as me, so…"

BAM!

Falcon, now twice as faster than before, landed his knee into Wolf's face, sending him flying into the nearby glass wall. The durable wall didn't break, and Falcon's knee wasn't enough to severely damage Wolf, but this sudden outburst of speed certainly got Wolf's attention.

"You want to die, little bastard?" Wolf growled, wiping blood from his mouth.

"For a good cause, I fucking will!"

Wolf crouched, then immediately disappeared. "You cannot match my speed. Nobody can, not even Metaknight or the master. I very much doubt that you can either, brat. I am always right…"

Falcon simply stood in the room, crossing his arms. "But there's something wrong with your theory, dude…"

In less than a millisecond, a furry fist came flying at Falcon's face.

"It's because I CAN…" Falcon emphasized the 'can' as he grabbed Wolf's fist. "…match your speed."

Wolf sneered, then immediately swung his left leg at Falcon's stomach. Still holding onto Wolf's right fist with his left hand, Falcon used his right elbow to block the kick, then sent loose his own kick at Wolf, which was blocked by Wolf's own left elbow.

FOOOOOM!!!

"What the…" Wolf muttered before he let out a yelp and drew back his body from Falcon, waving his legs to take out the fire. Falcon smirked at his fire sneak attack, but he's got more up his sleeves.

Captain Falcon thrusted himself at Wolf in the air, thrusting his legs down at Wolf. Wolf immediately blocked with both of his arms, crossing them directly in front of his face while crouching. Falcon kicked off of Wolf, pushing him to the ground, then dove down with a downward…

"FALCON KICK!"

Wolf instantly rolled out of the way, causing Falcon to create a deep, black crack in the ground. Falcon didn't need to look up to notice Wolf about to take advantage of his recovery time. Falcon anticipated Wolf's attack and wavedashed backwards, causing Wolf's punch to reach only the thin air directly in front of Falcon's face.

"Notice the shadows you're making?" Falcon sneered. Wolf looked back.

"What about them?" Wolf would have asked if he didn't notice two black arms reaching up at him.

Falcon's two shadow arms grabbed Wolf's arms, then pulled him down, pinning him to the ground face up.. Falcon rolled up his sleeves, preparing to deliver the final blow.

"Never knew it'd be this easy, man… Too bad," said Falcon. He jumped up into the air above Wolf, then pointed his knee down at Wolf.

"FALCON KNEE!!!"

Captain Falcon immediately shot down at Wolf, his flaming knee threatening to burn anything it touches. He pointed it at Wolf's face, preparing to crush it…

BAM!

At the last second, Wolf's right foot came flying up at Falcon's stomach. The racer, caught unexpectedly, tumbled in the air, coughing blood from the violent blow, yet still holding Wolf down. Falcon was still directly above Wolf, completely vulnerable.

BAM!

Wolf threw his head up at Falcon's head violently, cracking his red helmet. The blow was so powerful that Falcon reeled his head in pain, almost having his skull cracked. Wolf took some recoil damage as well, but it wasn't close to the pain Falcon was experiencing.

BAM!

While Falcon was still in the air, Wolf curled his body, lifting his body (with his arms still pinned to the ground) and shooting his legs over his own head, right where Falcon's stomach was! The racer was sent flying into the glass wall, cracking it yet not breaking it yet. Falcon groaned, lost of some of his energy and releasing his shadow grasp on Wolf.

Wolf spat to his side. "I'm not that easy, little punk."

"Geez… And just when I was going to show off my sexy knee to the gals…" Falcon groaned, still clutching his stomach.

"…I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Wolf dashed at Falcon, giving no sign of how he is going to attack.

_Great… I'll have to vary my technique then…_ Falcon thought with a serious tone.

Wolf was directly in front of Falcon, still giving no signs of any means of attacking. Falcon used a quick Raptor Boost at Wolf, but completely missing as Wolf jumped over him. Falcon threw his left leg behind him and felt Wolf's furry hand on his foot.

CRACK!

"GAHHHHHHHHH!!!" Falcon screamed as Wolf twisted his ankle in almost a full rotation. Several disgusting cracks echoed through the room, all of them emerging from the bones in Falcon's left ankle. Wolf let go, allowing Falcon to tend to his limping foot aching in pain.

"Gah… no… no…" Falcon gasped before Wolf's foot flew directly at Falcon's nose, breaking it and the glass in his helmet as well. Blood splattered everywhere on the floor.

"Guh…" Falcon groaned in pain, but Wolf wasn't about to give him a second to tend to his broken body parts. Wolf jumped to the wall, pointing his head at Falcon.

"Prepare to die, little wench!"

"You only call girls wenches! Know your vocabulary!" Falcon cried out randomly.

"Shut the fuck up!" Just as Wolf beheaded Vaati with this attack, he shot down at Falcon like a missile, traveling as fast as sound.

Falcon wasn't going to give up yet though! He finally stood up, biting his lips to suppress the pain on his nose and ankle so hard that his lips began to bleed. He looked up at Wolf, who was flying at him (incredibly fast).

BAM!

With both of his hands, Captain Falcon grabbed Wolf's diving face, preventing his death. However, the force of Wolf's head was so powerful that Falcon's feet skidded across the ground, up until the point where Falcon's back collided with the glass wall behind him and cracked it! Both of then grunted as Wolf flipped off of Falcon, completely unharmed. Falcon's gloves were ripped off by Wolf's head, revealing his bare hands.

"Ugh… What's up with you?" Falcon groaned, leaning on the wall.

"I train my body every day… And the Endowment of Exigency helps too, little punk," Wolf sneered. "It's no wonder you're considered stupid by your friends."

"Pft, who cares? I'm sexy enough for the team!" Falcon confidently cried as he charged at Wolf again with a surprise up his sleeves.

"Again? You're getting a bit predictable, punk!"

"FALCON DASH!" Falcon instantly gained a sudden burst of speed and disappeared in Wolf's eyes! Before Wolf knew what happened, the lights in the room were… exploding!

"Pah! I know what you're doing! Turning the entire room into shadows to turn the tables in your favor. Won't work on me, punk!" Wolf exclaimed.

The last of the ceiling lights disappeared and the room was completely pitch black, save for the lights outside of the windows. Wolf was completely unable to see anything at all. Suddenly, millions of black arms lifted out from every inch of the ground and all reached for Wolf, covering him in black hands!

"Mphhh, Mmmmph!" Wolf muffled, but the hands blocked his mouth.

"HERE I COME! FALCONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN…"

Wolf's eyes widened, but nobody could see them because of the hands.

"PUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!"

At the last moment, Falcon had all of the hands let go of Wolf, allowing him a clean shot. However, he only hit the ground, leaving a deep crack again!

Wolf seemed to have escape at the last second…

But unfortunately for him, he couldn't see right through the dark, only use his instincts.

"If that didn't do it, here's my sexy combo!" Falcon cried. He came from behind with a Raptor Boost. Using his reflexes and instincts, Wolf crouched, feeling the flames barely char his back. Falcon smiled.

BAM!

While directly above Wolf, Captain Falcon threw his legs downward at Wolf's back, sending him bouncing up into the air. Falcon jumped directly below Wolf and used a quick flip kick to knock Wolf's body a few feet forward. He repeated this three times to juggle Wolf, and then he quickly followed up with…

"FALCON KNEE!"

Captain Falcon's right knee set on fire and it finally struck home base! Wolf's body was set on fire as he was sent flying towards the wall. A black, shadow fist came out from the wall, punching Wolf in the face.

Wolf looked around, unable to see anything at all in the pitch darkness. Captain Falcon really had the upper hand in this fight.

But not for long.

Wolf landed on the ground, spinning his arms around to repel the shadow arms. "All right, little punk," he started as he jumped to avoid more shadow arms. "I've been going easy on you all this time, and it's obvious you're not gonna damn go down."

"Damn straight." Falcon sped at Wolf then jumped up at him.

"It's time to get serious! REN KIU!"

Falcon's eyes widened. Although he can see in the dark, he couldn't make out details of what was happening.

Suddenly, he felt a powerful pair of jaws chomp down on his right elbow.

"AUGH!"

Captain Falcon couldn't let go of whatever is biting his elbow, and in a second his arm would be ripped off! He threw his elbow down into the ground, but whatever bit him immediately escaped.

He saw an animal on four legs facing him, and saw blood drip from its jaws.

_Is that Wolf's Ren Kiu? A simple Wolf animal form?_

"Don't take it easy," Wolf growled with a lower voice. He disappeared; he was running around so fast on four legs that even Falcon couldn't detect what he was about to do!

The least Falcon should do on the defensive side was to keep moving. However, it didn't help much. Every second he moved and tried to find Wolf, he felt claws rip at his body, slowly revealing more and more cut skin.

It was the moment Wolf landed on top of Captain Falcon that Falcon could see the horrifying Ren Kiu form of Wolf. Wolf was now a terrifying, ravenous wolf. Yellow drool dripped from his mouth, mixed with blood that he bit. His gray fur was slightly messy. Wolf's hands were replaced by claws with long yellow nails, or at least WERE yellow, as they were red with Falcon's blood.

"Get off of me, damn it!" Falcon cried as he attempted to kick Wolf off. Wolf sped off of him again, jumping around at amazing speeds.

"Like I said, you can't come close to matching my speed in Ren Kiu…" Wolf's voice echoed through the room. "It's time to end this, little punk!"

He landed on top of Captain Falcon again, pushing him to the ground this time and lying on his body. Wolf used his legs and arms to pin Falcon's legs and shoulders to the ground, their faces inches apart. Falcon shivered; he could smell the nauseous scent from Wolf's drooling mouth.

"It ends here."

Wolf grabbed Falcon's throat with his jaw! Before Falcon could do anything, Wolf ripped off some skin and broke bones in it. Falcon's body immediately went limp and stopped struggling. Wolf felt no more resistance against his body, and he transformed back into his original form.

"As I said…" Wolf said, wiping blood on his face away. The lights suddenly came back on, allowing him a clear view of Captain Falcon. "You can't match my speed. And the throat is always a vital spot… What?"

Falcon's stomach was… moving up! No wait! Then it was… moving back down! Wolf heard the breathing noise of Falcon staggering, yet the pulse was still there!

"Still alive? Don't worry, I'll end it here, little bastard." Wolf, standing beside Falcon's body, lifted his foot, about to smash it into Falcon's face and destroy it…

* * *

"No way…" Spekkio gasped. 

"Yes. Falcon lost this fight, it seems…"

"Come on, Captain Falcon! Get back up like Luigi did!"

Gaspar shook his head. "It's no use. Despite his attitude, he does not have the determination, and a normal person would die from having half of his throat ripped out."

* * *

Luigi looked at the battle scene between Wolf and Captain Falcon. "Oh… my… god…" he whispered, hidden from Wolf behind the stairs. 


	60. Chapter 60: Attack of the Clones!

Hack: Another chapter done! Jigglypuff vs. Black Shadow! Enjoy it!

* * *

**Chapter 60: Attack of the Clones!  
**

"I can't imagine how long it would take for someone like you to figure out how to defeat me," Black Shadow smirked. "How long… about three or four weeks since you met me?"

"More or less," Jigglypuff monotonously replied.

"Well I'm sure you can't find it, and even if you found the way… You'll find me a very difficult opponent."

"We'll see about that."

Black Shadow crossed his arms, charging his hands behind his shoulders. Jigglypuff stood her ground, prepared to take any attack that he was about to deliver.

ZING! ZING!

Two black and dark discs flew through the air like a pair of sharp frisbees, both aimed at Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff ducked to avoid the discs that flew overhead.

_It can't be that easy, can it?_ She thought to herself. _Black Shadow can't be using… Shoot!_

Jigglypuff immediately wavedashed forward, avoiding a narrow black explosion directly behind her. Before she could take her breath, however, Black Shadow appeared directly in front of Jigglypuff!

"Take this!" he cried as he shot his black claw out at the puffball. Jigglypuff jumped back to avoid the punch, but her opponent had a surprise in stock.

"Separate!" The five fingers on his claw detached themselves from his hand as they shot at Jigglypuff like bullets. Taken by surprise, Jigglypuff was struck by two of the bullets at her sides, revealing cut marks.

Jigglypuff skidded across the ground, facing her enemy. Black Shadow glided towards her, smirking.

"You can't hurt me, I'm perfectly safe."

"_Solarbeam!_"

Jigglypuff charged a ball of light in her hands, preparing to fire a deadly attack at Black Shadow. She grinned at him.

"Try as you might, it won't hurt me," said Black Shadow as he separated into several dark particles.

BOOM!

After charging for several seconds, Jigglypuff fired her solarbeam attack, releasing an enormous beam of light at the darkness particles.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

_Yes! It worked!_ Jigglypuff exclaimed in her mind.

The black particles were surrounded by light, then formed to reveal a damaged Black Shadow again, who was kneeling on the ground. His body was outlined by an aura of light, clearly his weakness.

"Not… bad… So you did find my weakness…" Black Shadow grunted. "I'll have to take that into consideration now…"

"Nothing can damage you in your separated form except light," said Jigglypuff. "And when you are struck by light, you're forced back into your physical form, where anything can damage you."

Black Shadow laughed out loud. "So you know that light is my weakness… But is that knowledge enough for you to defeat me?"

"We'll see. I'd say yes."

"I'd say no if I were you, because I'm much more than what you've seen…"

"Really? _Double Team!_"

Jigglypuff created four copies of herself, now making five Jigglypuffs in the room. All of them had steel fists, and were about to all jump Black Shadow!

One Jigglypuff threw her fist at Black Shadow's body, who was still under the effect of light, unable to split into particles. He glided backwards and looked up to find another Jigglypuff throwing another steel fist at him. He moved his body to the side, allowing the second Jigglypuff to smash into the ground beside him, but he had no time. The third Jigglypuff was in midair, flying towards him with her leg out; a sex kick. The shadow crouched, causing this Jigglypuff to go flying over him. He looked around, expecting another attack from the other two Jigglypuffs. His eyes widened as he saw the two Jigglypuffs cry…

"_Solarbeam!!!_"

Black Shadow smirked. "Not bad… The other three clones were just to distract me. However…"

Two huge beams of light fired at him. Black Shadow instantly grabbed two of the Jigglypuffs nearby him, who were all still recovering from their assault, and held them in front of him as shields. The two Jigglypuffs disappeared in a puff of smoke as the light attack struck them, but the clones successfully shielded Black Shadow from the damaging attack.

"…I see through your plans!"

The first Jigglypuff that attacked him came from behind, throwing another steel Meteor Mash attack at him. Black Shadow smirked; the effects of the first Solarbeam attack completely wore off, and he was able to split apart again.

And split apart he did. Jigglypuff only felt her fist fly through black sand, not damaging her opponent at all. She jumped back to the other two, all grouped together to face the reforming Black Shadow.

"And that Solarbeam attack of yours… You take several seconds to charge it. You need time to charge it with the surrounding light, which is why you used your clones as a decoy in order to give yourself time to charge it…"

"I hate to admit it, but you're a pretty smart guy," said Jigglypuff, panting a bit.

"It seems like it takes up quite a bit of your energy too…"

_Yes, it does…_ Jigglypuff thought, fear running through her mind. _Solarbeam is the only attack I have to defeat Black Shadow, but I can only use it once or twice before I'm unable to move, because it uses too much of my energy… I have to make these uses count, and actually hit this time._

_The time it takes to charge doesn't help at all… I'll have to strategize a bit…_

Jigglypuff thought for a second, a strategy forming in her mind. The moment her two other clones exploded, she noticed that she was still in the middle of a fight, and immediately rolled to the side to avoid another exploding dark disc.

"What the…" Jigglypuff gasped as she landed. A black hole appeared beneath her feet, sinking her like quicksand. Unaware of the trap, Jigglypuff sunk into the hole.

Wherever she was, it was completely pitch black. It looked like another dimension of the world, or something like that.

But wherever she was, she was in complete pain! Pain struck her internal organs from every angle, threatening to deflate and torture the small puffball. It felt like one of Mewtwo's psychic attack, except twice as painful!

"GAH!" Jigglypuff screamed as she plopped out of the black hole. Sweating from the torture room, she looked below to find another black hole forming.

_Not this time…_

Jigglypuff jumped into the air, just to find Black Shadow right beside her.

BOOM!

Jigglypuff took the full blow of Black Shadow's fist, which was twice as more powerful than Wolf's fist (and that is VERY painful). Jigglypuff literally crashed _through_ the window and out of the Arena Tower of the Halberd. She flipped in the air, still reeling in pain, and bouncing back into the room to face her opponent.

"_Double Team_!" Jigglypuff cried as more clones of her formed, four more to be exact. They all split apart, surrounding Black Shadow in a wide, circular formation.

"Hm, this trick again?" Black Shadow muttered under his breath. "It's getting a bit annoying now…"

One Jigglypuff came from behind again, holding another steel fist ready to pound Black Shadow into the ground. Black Shadow whirled around and fired a bullet at her, destroying the clone. He immediately whirled around to see yellow light.

"NO!"

But it wasn't Solarbeam.

"_Disable!_" The real Jigglypuff behind him cried. The yellow light struck him, yet he felt no pain at all! He didn't feel anything at all! He stood up again, fending off the three other Jigglypuff clones.

"Pah! Don't know what that did…"

"You'll soon see…" Jigglypuff replied.

"Well I've got a fun trick up my sleeves!" Four black holes emerged in the ground, all surrounding Black Shadow. Jigglypuff wore a puzzled expression on her face, but that expression turned into shock as four more Black Shadow figures emerged.

"You see, I can make clones too!"

"This isn't very good…" Jigglypuff muttered under her breath. "But I know of a way to defeat them fast…"

"Prepare for death!" Black Shadow cried.

"_Flame Wheel!_" Jigglypuff cried as she and her four clones released hundreds of horizontal fire discs at the Black Shadow clones.

They simply went through them!

"You forgot already? I can't be hurt without light!" Black Shadow smirked as he assaulted Jigglypuff with his four clones. Jigglypuff countered with her own set of clones.

_It's time…_

"_Sunny Day!_" one of the Jigglypuff clones cried. Somehow, rays from the sun pierced through the ceiling and down on every inch of the floor, blinding any being that looked up. That clone that summoned the light however was taken out by one of Black Shadow's shadow discs.

Jigglypuff smiled. "_Solarbeam!_" All four cried. Each took less than a second to charge, then instantly fired four different beams of light, annihilating all of Black Shadow's clones. All four also struck Black Shadow himself dead on.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" he cried, unable to move. He fell to the ground, stunned by the light.

_Sunny Day causes the sun's rays to fall down, allowing Solarbeam to require almost no charging at all. That took up too much of my energy, though…_

_I have to take him out. Now!_

All five Jigglypuffs jumped at the kneeling Black Shadow, and one of them landed on him.

REST!

Unfortunately, Black Shadow immediately threw that clone off of him beforehand. The moment that clone used Rest, she landed on another clone, blowing it up. Black Shadow immediately stood up, just to face four different attacks flying at him, all in different directions.

"_Flamethrower!_"

"_Ice Beam!_"

"_Rock Slide!_"

"_Thunderbolt!_"

A stream of fire, a beam of ice, an avalanche of boulders, and a violent bolt of lightning were approaching Black Shadow at the same time!

Black Shadow had only one choice: Jump up to avoid the attack.

In midair, he was surrounded by four Jigglypuffs, who all jumped up with him. An explosion sounded below on the ground, all four of the elemental attacks colliding.

"_Meteor Mash!_" All four pokemon cried, raising huge, steel fists.

Moments before their fists collided on Black Shadow's face, Black Shadow spun his body around, holding his arms out like a Mario Tornado attack. He struck all of the Jigglypuffs, knocking them away. The three clones disappeared and the real Jigglypuff flew into the ground, coughing.

Solarbeam's effect finally disappeared on Black Shadow, allowing him to split apart.

"You thought you could defeat me? Me, the ultimate strategist? I knew you were going to attack me when I was vulnerable above! And judging from the consequences of your light beam attack, you can't use it anymore."

_Darn… He's right…_ Jigglypuff thought to herself, cursing in her mind. _Is there any other way to defeat him? Surely light isn't the only method…_

Jigglypuff didn't have time to think as Black Shadow flung several bullets at her, causing her to roll to the side again. Another black hole appeared, but Jigglypuff was smart enough to avoid it by wavedashed further to the side.

BAM!

Several bullets finally struck Jigglypuff, just as Black Shadow predicted where she'd dodge. Jigglypuff's body was covered in red spots of blood now, grunting.

"You can't beat me," said Black Shadow, just as all of the other Ring of Darkness members say all the time.

A light bulb lit up in Jigglypuff's head. _Hey! It's worth a shot. But I only have one shot, I'd be exhausted…_

"_Double Team!_"

"Again?"

Instead of four clones, though, only one clone appeared beside Jigglypuff.

"Get ready, Black Shadow!" Jigglypuff cried. "_Agility! Swords Dance!_"

Both Jigglypuff began running incredibly fast, running circles around Black Shadow, who couldn't be harmed at the moment.

Black Shadow smirked. He had laid several more traps around the room, so surely both, or at least one of the Jigglypuffs would fall in them. Sure enough, black holes opened up, but the two pokemon were running so fast that they literally ran _over_ them!

"What?"

"_Psychic!_" _Please let it go right, please…_

Jigglypuff focused her mind on Black Shadow, addressing all of her hatred, her determination, and her power into the image in her mind. Suddenly, Black Shadow's body flew up into the air!

"What are you doing? You know psychic attacks cannot damage a dark being…"

"Yes, but you forgot one thing…" the Jigglypuff on the ground smiled.

Another Jigglypuff came flying at Black Shadow and attached herself on him, though panting in fatigue. Black Shadow's yellow eyes widened. He struggled to move his body, even separate himself.

But the psychic attack kept him intact and unable to move.

"NO!" Black Shadow cried. "I cannot die! REN KIU, FORM!"

Nothing happened.

"Did you know? I had that disable attack disable your Ren Kiu transformation, so you cannot transform for the next hour. I can make you never use it for the hour, because I've seen a Ren Kiu form…"

Black Shadow simply gritted his teeth. "What the hell are you talking about? REN KIU! REN KIU!" He groaned as he used all of his energy to transform.

"I saw Samus's Ren Kiu, allowing me to disable yours! Get ready!"

REST!

KABAM! BOOM!

The real Jigglypuff, who was on Black Shadow's head, fell asleep, setting Black Shadow on fire once again. Unable to separate, Black Shadow was in pain, devastated.

But even more, because the Sword Dance-boosted Rest attack was so powerful, Black Shadow's body shot down at the floor unbelievably fast. He flew down so fast that he literally _flew through the floor_ that was supposedly indestructible, down to the lower floor.

Wolf, who was standing on Captain Falcon's side and about to kill him with his foot, looked up and saw Black Shadow's body. He widened his eyes, but his reactions were not enough. Black Shadow's body crashed on Wolf, breaking every bone in his body. Both Black Shadow and Wolf were sent flying through the floor again, down to the first floor! On the first floor, they were both lying in a cracked crater, completely unconscious.

Luigi came into the second floor room and ran to Captain Falcon.

"Captain Falcon! FALCON!!!!" He cried, grabbing him. Part of his throat was literally bitten off! Luigi flinched as he felt the stinging pain in his chest wound shoot through him, but he resisted.

But somehow, yes, somehow, Falcon was breathing!

Jigglypuff jumped down. "Captain Falcon! Are you all right?" she cried. She also winced from her injuries with Black Shadow.

Luigi stood up. "Great, Jigglypuff, take care of him. Make sure he stays alive."

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm going upstairs to help Fox against Metaknight… And have a talk with Samus. Make sure he doesn't die."

Jigglypuff knew that there was no point in arguing with Luigi in this determined mood, so she simply nodded in agreement.

"Don't die, Luigi. Make sure Fox doesn't die either…"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on letting him die. I plan on having all of us five leaving this ship and back down to Mushroom Kingdom."

* * *

The wire frames surrounded the carcasses of Gigyas and Alex, both beside each other and destroyed, blood smothering all over their bodies. 

"No! Who could've done this?"

"Commander Gigyas! Commander Alex! Are they dead?"

"No way! They're too powerful!"

"They're not breathing! Get water, hurry!"

The wire frames brought a few pails of water and splashed them all over the two bodies, though nothing had happened.

"No… They're both dead…"

Suddenly, Alex gave a loud cough.


	61. Chapter 61: The Brave Form

Hack: Fox vs. Metaknight! Long, lengthy chapter that reveals a few mysteries and the next few chapters will reveal even more mysteries!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 61: The Brave Form**

CLANG!

The action between Fox and Metaknight was already heated up, both swinging their weapons at each other. Metaknight used his broad, silver sword while Fox wielded his staff, keeping his blaster handy. Whenever Metaknight slashed at Fox and his staff was unable to block it, Fox fired a laser from his blaster to knock Metaknight's sword off course.

"You won't believe how much stronger I've gotten," said Fox.

"Great, impress me," Metaknight replied with a hidden smile behind his white mask. "Show me your progress. I lust for your strength."

BEUM!

Fox fired his blaster from afar at Metaknight, who held his sword out and deflected the laser back at Fox with precise accuracy. Fox turned on his reflector to fire it back at Metaknight, making the shot even more powerful.

But wait! Metaknight wasn't even _thinking_ about having tennis with the blaster shot! Metaknight was _gliding_ towards Fox, ignoring the blaster shot!

_What are you up to?_ Fox thought.

Metaknight simply pointed his sword out, the blaster shot striking the very tip of it. The laser was literally split into two, also slightly changing their angle, completely missing Metaknight! Metaknight stood close to Fox again and swung his sword vertically. Fox retaliated by holding his staff horizontally with both of his hands at each end. Metaknight immediately slid his sword down Fox's staff and began to cut through his hand.

"AUGHH!!!" Fox cried as he immediately withdrew his cut right hand, dropping his staff. Metaknight changed the direction of the momentum of his sword and swung it to the right at Fox's head. Unable to recover his melee weapon, Fox put his hand behind his back to draw the first thing that he touches in order to block it; his blaster was too small and weak to block Metaknight's sword.

CLANG!

Fox blocked Metaknight's sword and saw what he was holding: his long, sniper rifle. There was a small indented cut in it after Metaknight drew his sword away, but it was durable enough to last even Metaknight's sword.

_Looks like my sniper will do better than my blaster in some cases…_ Fox glanced down at his staff and immediately sped towards it, about to retrieve it. Metaknight wasn't going to let him.

SHING!

Fox drew his body back inches away from the staff as the silver sword flew past him, grazing his chest. A small cut parallel to the ground was visible on Fox's chest, but it wasn't too bad. Fox turned around to look at Metaknight, who was defenseless without a weapon now.

_Now's my chance!_

Fox drew his blaster, which was charging silently inside his pocket. He immediately fired the red charged shot at Metaknight, who was still just standing there. His eyes wore an expression of… triumph?

Fox turned around to have his eyes wide open. Metaknight's sword came flying at him from behind. Fox could only do one thing.

He turned on his reflector.

However, the sword was so powerful, that when it struck Fox, his reflector exploded! Fox fell on the ground on his back to see the sword fly overhead, almost cutting his body in half. Metaknight caught the sword with his right hand and spun it around a few times. In his left hand was Fox's staff!

"Thanks for the staff…" Metaknight smiled. "It's quite the weapon for you. Thin, light, and slick, yet still packs a punch. Suites your speed pretty well, although Wolf is definitely much faster than you. Heck, you're probably faster than me by now." Metaknight complimented.

"I have no room for compliments from my opponents!" Fox replied with a determined look on his face. "You know I'm not playing around anymore, so why don't you give it your all too? I know you've been holding back all this time…"

"Yes, you're very observant. I've only been using half of my own potential, without Ren Kiu."

Metaknight suddenly gained an outburst of speed, gliding at Fox with both his sword and Fox's staff pointed at Fox. Fox blocked with his sniper rifle, leaving two more imprints from the sword and staff on his durable sniper.

"Fly away," Metaknight muttered under his breath.

BOOM!

There was a loud explosion and Fox was sent flying into the wall (like everyone else before him), leaving trails of blood over his face. Fox got back on his feet then immediately took aim with his sniper rifle.

Metaknight immediately dashed to the side at the last second, but Fox was a pro at sniping.

BAM!

Metaknight's small round body was struck by the red beam of energy, sending him flying into the wall as well.

"I've been practicing with my other weapons too," Fox grinned. "Only one that was better at sniping was Falco, and he was pretty damn accurate."

_It feels like… his skills are merging with mine… I feel like I can hit anything at all…_

_Let's go…_

Metaknight stood up instantly, but he instantly crouched down to the ground to narrowly avoid another sniper shot. He jumped away speedily as Fox reloaded his sniper rifle.

"As long as I attack from afar with my sniping skills…" Fox started. "You can't get close to me!"

Fox's theory seemed to prove true at the moment. Every time Metaknight attempted to jumped closer to Fox, Fox immediately fired a laser at his feet, forcing the small knight to retreat. By the time he is prepared to attack again, Fox had already reloaded his gun.

BAM!

The red laser struck the ground a fourth time, forcing Metaknight away for the fourth time.

Unfortunately for Fox, he definitely did not have the upper hand. Metaknight was simply playing with him at the moment.

"It's time to get serious!" Metaknight cried. He glided towards Fox, who shot another sniper rifle, striking his target. However, he didn't exactly damage his target. Metaknight held his gleaming sword up, literally deflecting the laser back at Fox! Unable to react due to the insanely fast laser, Fox was scorched in his waist, grunting. Metaknight took advantage of this second to finally bring Fox into his sword's range.

And he still had Fox's staff.

Metaknight swung his sword down at Fox, who rolled to the side. Metaknight immediately spun around, swinging Fox's staff in his other hand downward at Fox. Fox hopped over the staff and swung his foot at Metaknight's hand. Metaknight immediately blocked Fox's kick with the blunt side of his sword, then knocked him away.

Fox flipped in midair, regaining his balance, then fired his blaster at Metaknight. Metaknight blocked and deflected every single laser back at Fox, although all of the deflected shots missed him.

"If this is you getting serious…" Fox started as he aimed with his sniper rifle and fired, just to roll out of the way to avoid his attack deflected. "It's time for me to get serious!"

He closed his eyes, holding his right palm out. Suddenly, Metaknight released his grasp on Fox's staff, unintentionally. The staff flew at Fox, with its sharp end at him.

"What the…" Metaknight started, confused as what Fox was doing, as Fox gave no signs of catching his own weapon.

BAM!

Fox turned on another reflector, deflecting his flying staff back at Metaknight! Unable to deflect it with his sword, Metaknight can only jump to the side, where Fox was already about to snipe him.

BAM!

Fox struck his target again, as his laser shot through Metaknight's mask and into his round body, creating a tiny hole in his mask. Metaknight was sent flying backwards as the staff flew back into Fox's hand.

"Liked that? I got three extra reflectors, just in case some broke like a while ago…" said Fox as he dashed at Metaknight.

_That's Metaknight's weakness… Speed and range… Speed isn't a problem for him, as he's got great accuracy and reflexes, but he thinks he fixed his problem with his short range. He thinks that he can deflect any projectiles._

_But not my staff. He'll be expecting that move now, so I can't afford to throw it again, at least carelessly…_

CLANG!

Staff met with Sword again, steel with steel, as Fox and Metaknight began to hack at each other once more.

"This is getting quite tiresome," said Metaknight. "And quite repetitive too. I think I'll break the trend."

"Huh?"

After blocking another blow from Fox's staff, Metaknight drew his sword back and closed his eyes. He suddenly and instantly appeared directly behind the unsuspecting Fox, holding his sword out. A second later, Fox's chest split open from a deep vertical gash.

"ARGHHH!!!" Fox cried, crouching down to clutch his new wound dripping with blood.

Metaknight whirled around and closed his eyes again, beginning to perform the same maneuver.

_Not this time, Metaknight!_

When Metaknight reappeared directly behind Fox again, Fox held up his staff in defense. A second later, there was a loud clanging noise, and a small scratch mark was seen on Fox's staff. He had just blocked the invisible slash.

"Not bad, you caught on quickly," Metaknight complimented. "Seems I underestimated you a bit… I'll have to stop playing with you now."

"You better," Fox grumbled under his breath as he coughed out more blood. "I have no time for your damn games, Metaknight!"

Metaknight raised his sword. "You seriously want me to give it my all?"

"I'm here to defeat you," Fox replied, holding his staff out. "And to defeat you… I have to do this…"

Metaknight gave a curious look as Fox pointed his staff down to the ground. He closed his eyes, grunting for a few seconds. Suddenly, Fox opened his eyes and released his staff, his clothes turning into a bright shade of red. The staff split into two separate staffs and an aura behind Fox indicated his new power.

"Level Two… _Brave Form_…" Fox muttered as he held both staffs.

Metaknight smiled. "Excellent! I hope you'll provide a good challenge for me!"

CLANG!

Fox blocked Metaknight's sword with one staff then immediately swung his other staff at Metaknight. Metaknight swerved his body out of the way, releasing his hold on Fox's first staff. Fox threw his first staff at Metaknight, forcing him to move away even further.

_Got ya!_

BAM!

Fox fired his sniper rifle in his right hand while running towards Metaknight. Metaknight was struck by the red laser again, but Fox was instantly beside him, the staff in his left hand about to strike.

SHING!

Metaknight blocked again as Fox began to hack away. Unlike the other times, though, Fox seemed much faster and more accurate; for once, he had the upper hand in this duel! After a minute, Fox noticed an open spot in Metaknight's defense. As Metaknight was about to bring his sword back for a more powerful blow…

BAM!

Fox instantly shot his staff forward, striking Metaknight's mask and into his body. There was a deep hole in his mask now, revealing dark blue skin underneath, which was now red due to blood. Metaknight retreated, just to find another staff shooting through his body and back at Fox's right hand, which was free from his sniper rifle.

SHING!

Fox slashed at Metaknight with both staffs at the same time, creating an X-gash in his mask. Fox pointed both of his staffs to his right, forming a line with both. He immediately dashed sideways at the stunned Metaknight again, shooting both staffs forward.

BAM!

Metaknight blocked both staffs with his sword, but Fox had another trick up his sleeve. He pushed his staff down on Metaknight's sword, giving him momentum to quickly jump over Metaknight and on top of him. He threw his two staffs directly upwards into the air and released a powerful drill kick on Metaknight. This time, though, his drill kick spun much faster than usual! Metaknight was struck by at least a hundred kicks per second! Once Fox landed, he immediately followed up with a reflector shine, knocking Metaknight a few feet. He swiftly wavedashed forward and swung his tail, knocking Metaknight upwards a few feet.

BAM! BAM!

The two staffs in the air struck through Metaknight again, creating new holes for his mask and skin. Metaknight was still stunned when Fox came up into the air and used another X-slash with both staffs, knocking him further into the air! Fox used a midair jump and threw both his staffs up again. The moment Metaknight moved backwards in the air to dodge them, Fox predicted where he'd dodge and used a powerful flip kick. Metaknight's body was sent flying upwards and slammed into the ceiling, leaving a large cracked crater. Fox followed up with a final sniper shot. Metaknight fell to the ground face down, struggling to stand up again.

"You can't beat me now," said Fox.

"Oh really?" Metaknight uttered under his breath, using his sword to prop himself up. Fox charged again, hacking at him with both staffs. Metaknight swiftly blocked all of Fox's attacks, using graceful sword arcs.

"It's time to get serious!" Metaknight cried.

"How many times did you say that?" Fox desperately asked.

It seemed like Metaknight is actually getting serious now. Fox threw his staffs forward, and Metaknight shot his sword forward, using its miniscule tip to block BOTH staffs! Fox was awestruck at this maneuver, before he realized what Metaknight did before in this condition!

"Fly away…"

BOOM!

Another explosion, but Fox jumped back to dodge it, holding his staffs back and leaving him wide open.

Big mistake.

Metaknight's sword pierced through Fox's chest, causing him to drop his weapons. Metaknight looked up to Fox, drawing his sword back from Fox. Fox staggered, unable to stay standing. Before he dropped to the ground, though, Metaknight held his sword forward.

BOOM!

Another explosion, except this was different. Fox screamed as he was suddenly covered in cuts, feeling several hundred swords slashing him from different directions. He fell to the ground, bloody, and barely opened his eyes.

"You… you…" Fox uttered, on the brink of death.

"Seems that you're too weak," Metaknight simply said as he shot his sword forward again. It struck through Fox's back and into the ground, causing Fox to yell in pain. His face fell, closing his eyes and his body went limp. Metaknight withdrew his sword and heard footsteps from the floor below.

"FOX!!!" Luigi cried as he ran towards Fox. A second later, he had just realized that Metaknight was in the room.

"…Do not worry. I left him alive," said Metaknight.

"Why should I trust you?" Luigi asked suspiciously as he knelt down beside Fox.

Metaknight ignored his question. "Tell Fox that we will fight to the death… In the Dream Den of the Wistful Wild."

Luigi looked confused. "Why… why are you letting him go?"

"Because his powers have not fully developed. By the time we fight, his powers will have either fully developed or he is incapable of reaching that capacity."

"You… You're using him like a tool…" Luigi uttered, anger flaring up.

"Yes… and no… But you said yourself, your priority is saving Samus."

BOOM!

Metaknight held his sword up to block an invisible directed lightning punch.

"Don't… mess with me…" Luigi started.

"You said so yourself. You have accomplished nothing so far, except prove you are more powerful than Alex. Thing is, I am more than three times powerful than him, so if you seriously think you can defeat me at this level just because you defeated Alex… You're making a big mistake."

"Where is Samus?" Luigi asked.

"Right behind me are those stairs that lead up into the Headquarters. I remind you that it'd be difficult to bring Samus back, as she has been deceiving you for the entire journey."

"Don't… say…. That… She is our friend! How can you say that?"

"Time is ticking away, Luigi, and you best save it for bringing Samus back instead of arguing with me."

Luigi began to run to the stairs then he looked back. "How do I know that you won't kill Fox?"

But Metaknight was gone, leaving Fox's unconscious and cut body behind. Jigglypuff came into the room, carrying an unconscious Captain falcon with her.

"Fox!!!" She cried, running to Fox's aid.

"Right, Jigglypuff, you stay here and help Fox again. You can do that, right?" Luigi instructed.

"And you can find out what's up with Samus and bring her back. You can do that, right?" Jigglypuff replied with a sly smile as she knelt down before Fox.

"Of course."

"Luigi! Wait! On Black Shadow's body, I found this…" Jigglypuff started as she held up a piece of paper. Luigi grabbed it and looked at it.

"For those reading this, I should be long dead by now. I have committed a crime for creating the Endowment of Exigency and inflicting destruction upon the entire universe. But there may be a slight ray of hope. Nobody knows of what I have placed in it, aside from whom my hints lead to. Whoever receives this, I hope you will find this source and defeat the users of the Endowment of Exigency. Here are the hints I provide to you:

One word from each line, each line providing a separate hint.

Hidden from its sisters and brothers, significantly different from its siblings, carrying a source of light.

The ones who know of this power live in this chamber.

The power itself lies in a different world, an unknown sage, perplexing, mystifying sibling of ours.

Doctor Mario."

"It's signed… by the doctor…" Luigi uttered, his hands shaking. "These are the hints that lead to the third secret ingredient?"

Jigglypuff nodded. "I don't know where it leads, but we'll think about it later. You have to save Samus now."

"Of course. Jigglypuff, don't let Fox or Falcon die, either of them. They've given it their all but failed to defeat their enemies, but we're not so powerful yet. I'm going up now."

Luigi ran up the stairs. _Don't worry, Samus… I'm coming…_


	62. Chapter 62: The Reason

Hack: Extremely short chapter, sorry for the long delay. Just a chapter to move on the story.

All of the scenes with Gaspar and Spekkio will lead to an important event and transition that will happen in the future, in case you're wondering.

* * *

**Chapter 62: The Reason**

"Oh my god… Fox…" Spekkio gasped.

"Even I didn't…" Gaspar replied. "…I knew Fox would lose, but I never knew that he would be unable to force Metaknight into Ren Kiu…"

"Is Metaknight truly that powerful?"

"I knew he was powerful, but not this powerful… Even so, there are two beings currently out there that are much more powerful than Metaknight himself… You know who they are. One… is I."

* * *

"Samus…" 

"Luigi…"

Samus and Luigi uttered each others names as Luigi stood before Samus inside the control room of the Halberd. Silence rang through the room, the only sound carrying the roaring winds outside in outer space.

Finally, Samus broke the silence. "Why…" she uttered angrily, her fists shaking in her chozo power suit. "Why did you come when I told you not to… You would have died…"

"Because…" Luigi replied. "…You're our friend."

"…peh. Friendship… a pointless thing when you're used by your so called friends…"

"…Samus… What's wrong with you?" Luigi asked. "Why did you leave us?"

Samus pointed her arm cannon at Luigi. "That's none of your business."

BOOM!

A blue blast of phazon shot towards Luigi, who suddenly jumped into the air, pounding his invisible feet into the ground to propel him upwards.

"What…?" Samus gasped.

"My new weapon… But how it works is none of your business, because apparently you won't cooperate. This is how I'm going to do this," Luigi said as he landed on the ground, facing the still seated Samus. "I'm going to pound you as hard as I can until I can force the reason for your betrayal."

"You'll find that pretty damn hard," Samus replied with a smirk. "I've grown more powerful, and I'm even more powerful than Alex."

"I just defeated Alex, so seeing if I can defeat you or not is a gamble I'm willing to take."

Luigi prepared to lift his leg to launch himself up into the air, but…

_What? My leg won't move!_

It seems his many battles with Doopliss, Crump, Grodus, and Alex have finally taken their toll. Luigi's body was too tired to move at all. When Luigi finally lifted his leg, it felt like lifting fifty tons on his knees.

_Ugh…_

He launched himself into the air, dodging a phazon beam shot, though barely, then he attempted to flip in the air to land on the ceiling with his legs. However, he misaimed and smashed his head into the ceiling, receiving a very bad headache.

BAM!

Samus immediately flew up to Luigi, aiming her metal arm cannon up at him and charging her annihilator beam shot. Luigi threw his fist forward in self-defense, shooting an invisible fire fist forward.

BAM!

The fist collided with Samus's helmet, yet it did barely anything at all! Luigi's feeble attempt to defend himself failed, because of his sprained arms. He immediately fell in the air, with Samus following him.

"_SONIC BOOM!_"

This sonic boom attack looked much, much more powerful than before. As usual, the attack instantly blocked all traces of sound and distorted the light that traveled through whatever it hit. However, its range was much bigger. It struck every inch on the ground, trapping everything with the power of sound, including Luigi. Every object on the ground was instantly destroyed into bits, which turned into nothing.

Samus pointed her arm cannon at Luigi, who was on the ground, unable to get back on his feet.

"Shit… Looks like you're right…" Luigi muttered. "I'm too tired to fight you…"

"Hmph." Samus shot her grappling beam at Luigi and dragged him closer. "I am going to throw you out from this window. Whether you die or not is none of my business."

"But it is, babe."

Samus whirled around to see three other familiar friends… standing up by the top of the stairs! Two of them were staggering, almost about to fall, but they were determined to bring their friend back.

"…What do you mean… Captain Falcon?"

"Samus, babe… Let me ask you one thing…" Falcon said, supported by Jigglypuff. A white collar was wrapped around his neck, which was now completely red, and he winced at the pain in his near-death experience with Wolf.

"If Luigi dying is none of your business… Why did you let us go on the Star Wolf ship?"

"I…" Samus stuttered.

"Why?" Falcon replied, wearing a serious expression on his face for the first time in front of Samus.

Samus dropped Luigi to the ground, releasing her beam's grip on him. Luigi stood up again, looking at her. Fox and Jigglypuff looked between the three.

"That was… different…" said Samus.

"Oh, so me using your own promises against you is offensive?" Luigi retaliated.

"…Using my promises? What… don't say that word… you…" Anger began to flare up Samus's face as Luigi smirked.

"What? So angry that I'm _using_ the word _use_? I'm sorry, but we're not leaving until we find out what's wrong with you… And help you out."

"Right! So you can bring me back… and USE me… AGAIN!" Samus yelled, releasing another Sonic Boom.

CHING!

Jigglypuff brought out a barrier around the defending smashers, blocking the Sonic Boom attack. Fox decided to continue the conversation.

"I know that if you didn't like the idea of being used… We'd respect your privacy," he explained. "You didn't exactly tell us…"

"But that doesn't change anything. You used me… For your goals… your needs… I feel like an object; a weapon. None of you know what it feels like… Being used. Watching others suffer for being used. NONE OF YOU!!!" Samus bellowed. "Ridley was right. He was right about everything."

"Wait, why the hell are you bringing Ridley into this?" Falcon asked.

"Because… he opened my eyes. He opened my eyes… to your idiotic uses of me, and the headquarters as well. You all… deserve to die… You're no better than anyone else. The Ring of Darkness promised not to use me, but… I don't know who to trust now. There's nobody I can trust… Nobody I can rely on… No point in my life… No reason to fight…

No point in my life…" 

Those words rang through Fox's brains.

"Life is precious, Samus!" he cried. "You can't throw your life away like nothing!"

"Yeah, like you'd know!" Samus spat at Fox. "You don't know anything! You don't know how it feels to lose someone for being used, just for a lost cause!"

"Lost someone…?" Jigglypuff asked. "Everyone loses someone precious… Look at Fox and Luigi… Look at myself…"

"Ha… losing someone precious…" Samus chuckled. "You don't know… You just don't know…"

"Because I know someone that you might know that might surprise you…" Jigglypuff continued. "Is it because Adam died?"

BOOM!

Samus immediately fired a super missile at Jigglypuff, who retaliated with a protect ability to defend herself.

"Don't… mention… his… name… again!!"

"What is so special about him anyways?" Jigglypuff asked before rolling away to dodge another missile.

"I told you! STOP ASKING ME!!!" Samus screamed, raising her arm cannon again. Luigi immediately held her arm back, causing her to misaim her super missile.

"Samus… please… you can tell us…" Luigi calmly said. "I want to know more about you… Why you hate being used… Everything."

"Like you'd understand."

"I'd understand."

Those simple words were enough to make Samus whirl around to face Luigi.

"How would YOU understand? I _hate_ all of you. I _hate everyone_! Nobody has gone through what I've gone! Understanding? Try understanding after living MY life!"

Tears were flowing down Samus's eyes now, though the other smashers could not see because of her foggy helmet. It was pretty clear though, because of her cracking, high voice.

"I'd still understand," Luigi whispered.

"You can rely on us. We won't… use you ever again if you tell us…" said Fox.

Samus looked at the four smashers, who were all now standing in a line, all facing her. All of them gave a confident nod to her.

"Tell us, please…" Jigglypuff pleaded. "The reason why you left us… The reason why you hate… The reason for everything."

"You know why I've been feeling used? It's because of the damn Headquarters! They force me to hunt down everything for their own needs, for their own desires, just because _they_ can't do it… That's why…"

"That's why you need to tell us…" Jigglypuff continued. "If you continue to carry all the pain by yourself, you're never going to move on… You have to leave the past behind, whatever happened."

Samus paused for a second, sniffling briefly. "The reason is… Adam… My co-worker…"


	63. Chapter 63: The Story of Adam

Hack: Tons of events (and possible spoilers) from Metroid Prime 2, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion. This flaskback story will last at least three chapters, so be prepared for a lengthy story!

* * *

** Chapter 63: The Story of Adam**

Satisfaction. That was the first feeling that entered Samus's reclusive mind as she exited the Great Temple of the Luminoth, the Great Temple of light, and the Great Temple of the pre-divided world, Aether. Aether was split into two worlds of altering dimensions: Light and Dark. The Luminoth hailed in the light while the Ing ruled the dark. After it was split, however, the Ing attacked the Luminoth in order to take over the opposite dimension of Aether. They were instantly fighting in a war for their own cause. The Ing wanted to spread through the world and the universe, and the Luminoth wanted to stop them and defend themselves.

It was pretty obvious that the Luminoth were losing the war.

Finally, their heroine came: Samus Aran.

To make a long sweet story short, Samus was led to the Great Temple of Light Aether by U-Mos, a sentinel of the Luminoth. She was then sent on a mission to return the energy from each temple of Dark Aether back to Light Aether, which would in turn destroy the world of Dark Aether and all the Ing. Eventually, after a long and grueling adventure (consisting of the awesome Annihilator Beam) she defeated the Emperor Ing and destroyed Dark Aether.

However, before Samus was sent on this mission, several members of the Galactic Federation (working with Samus) landed on the planet to seek hostility. They found nothing but Ing, and were all known to be killed.

The Temple Grounds. The grounds of the Great Temple. Rather than staying back at the Great Temple to celebrate with the ancient Luminoth and cousins of the Chozo, Samus decided to say no words and come back to her ship to receive her next mission. While she was taking a stroll, however, she stumbled upon someone unexpectedly…

Samus passed by the large deserted Federation ship, once occupied by the now-dead Federation troops days before she arrived. She saw quite a few carcasses of men she actually recognized, but gave no signs of remorse. She passed by this area several times, but she had no time to clean up the bodies. Her scanners also indicated that they were starting to smell…

But another side of her convinced her to give these men a proper burial, even if she felt no pity for them. She used her grapple beam to dig several ditches in the ground around the ship and dragged the bodies into the ditches. Their own white armor suits were not functional any longer, so there was no point in salvaging any of them.

After burying each and every body, Samus walked into the ship to see it strangely operating. Last time she came in here, it was not online. Lights from switches brightened in various colors, and there was even a table with food on top of it! It looked like the disgusting carcass of an animal, although it looked strangely edible. Samus walked through the three rooms of the ship: the passenger, captain, and backrooms and found nobody.

_Strange… There has to be a Federation member alive somewhere. I'm sure I didn't bury anyone alive, because I remember seeing every single body dead the first time I came here…_

BOOM

Samus jumped ten feet into the ceiling, her heart skipping a beat. She immediately ran outside of the ship and looked around. One of the blue doors on a shoulder-height ledge just closed. She decided to follow whoever it was, so she jumped on the ledge and opened the blue door with her power beam. She ran through the open door and saw another white-suited Federation member fighting off several war wasps on top of several suspended platforms over endless chasms.

One of the war wasps exploded instantly as the man fired his rifle at the swarm of gigantic insects. He backed off to a wall, still shooting like a madman. He immediately looked down at his rifle to see that he had no more bullets!

"Damn it!" He cried as the war wasps began to fire blue stingers at him. He ran to the side, being struck by only two or three. He cringed in pain as he continued to run.

BOOM!

Samus fired her Sonic Boom attack at the war wasps, instantly annihilating every single one of them. The man stopped running, surprised at what just happened. He turned around to see his savior…

"Samus! The ultimate bounty hunter!" He cried, running towards her. When he came a few feet away from her, he shook her hand. "I have to thank you for that… I would have died…"

Samus did not return a warm welcome; she did not know who this man was, and she couldn't see his face. "Were you the one operating the Federation ship?" she asked monotonously.

"Yes, yes I was, lady," he replied casually. "I was out in one of the search parties when our entire crew back at our temporary base was attacked. My search party was attacked; I was the only survivor." His eyes drooped at the thought of all of his dead allies. "So I escaped, then decided to survive on whatever weapons and rations I can find. The ship wasn't operational until one day ago, then I sent an SOS sign to the base, but I couldn't reach them…"

"You fixed the ship yesterday?" Samus asked.

The man nodded. "Yes I did, lady."

"And what is your name?"

"Adam Malkovich."

Samus almost fell backwards. "You're… you're my co-worker? My CO leader? I never saw you before because we always receive our orders by letter or e-mail."

"Yes, I am him. But I must thank you for saving me earlier, lady. You have your own ship that you can take me back to the Galactic Federation base, right?"

"Um, yes…"

Adam clapped his hands together. "That's settled! And I hate to be impolite, but… Do you have any edible food?"

Samus paused for a moment. _Was this guy insane? But he doesn't mean to be impolite, he's just being completely honest._

"Yes, I do, just don't eat out like you were at a buffet."

Adam chuckled. "Don't worry, lady, I won't. Someday, I'll repay you for saving my life and doing all these things for me."

Samus gave one of her rare warm smiles. She didn't know why, she just feels comfortable around this man who called her 'lady' all the time. She was never addressed personally, but she began to take a liking to this man.

* * *

A few months later… 

"What is it that you want, commander?" Samus asked, walking into the commander's room of the Galactic Federation. One suit-less man was standing behind a desk, and another familiar man stood beside him inside his white armor suit.

"Another mission relating to the evolving space pirates and the metroids," the commander explained. "Adam, will you explain?"

Adam nodded. Samus looked at him and gave him a warm look, but nobody could notice it. Neither of them has ever seen each other's faces before, and this was only the second time they met.

"Right, Samus," Adam started. "I'm sure you're familiar with the planet SR388, our code name for it, right?" He pointed at a holographic sphere on the virtual universe floating in the room.

"Yes. It's where all the metroids live and how they originated…"

"Exactly. Space pirates have been researching them to use them as fatal weapons, and they have been succeeding with their research. It'll only be a while before they have weapons of mass destruction to destroy us, and to control the universe."

"Same old? Stop their research?"

Adam chuckled. "No, lady, this time you're not. We're sending you to SR388 ourselves with a small crew. You and I are going to command the crew. Our mission there is to wipe out all of the metroids into extinction."

"…What? Extinction?" Samus gaped at him, then at the commander. The commander nodded.

Adam closed his eyes. "I honestly don't agree with this plan, but it's the orders of the commander, and we are their weapons to carry out their orders."

The commander let out a loud cough.

"…But it's our best chance at stopping the space pirates with the least amount of casualties."

"…I see what you mean."

"All right, we're going out soon. In a few days, I want you to track the planet as backup and arrive on SR388. Your mission is to finish off the metroid queen, as none of us are clearly capable of taking her on. You are not to destroy any other metroids out of the way, that is our mission."

"But what if you don't finish the mission?"

"Don't worry. We will. Follow my orders. When the commander calls you down in a couple days, most likely four or five, I want you to prepare all of your most powerful weapons and come down to the docking bay. You'll hear more about it later.

Any objections, lady?"

"No, sir."

"All right, you are dismissed!"

Samus turned around and walked out of the room. The moment she was out of earshot, the commander sighed.

"You know it's considered slightly rude to call her lady…"

"It's to notify our trust."

"Ah. I see. So you will be going out today with your troops."

"In a few hours. Preparations are almost complete. We have to stop whoever keeps stealing our rations…"

* * *

Four days have passed, and Samus was finally sent down to the docking bay to accomplish her mission: to slay the metroid queen. 

Samus stood on the dark caves of the SR388 planet, scanning the various rooms around her. It was just that: pitch, black caverns linked to more caverns. Some undoubtedly contained metroids.

A metroid is an evil creature that hails in SR388 and few migrated to a few other planets due to space pirate research. Their small bodies composed of a small, green transparent semi-spherical blob with a three-segmented red juicy brain visible inside it. On the bottom of its green body were four blood-thirsty fangs, used to suck the energy out from a victim.

SCREEEECH!

Three metroids came flying at Samus, who pointed her arm cannon at all three. Each one surrounded Samus, clearly devising a plan to take their food down.

BOOM!

Samus let loose an ice spreader on the ground, freezing all three metroids in the iceberg. She immediately fired a missile to destroy the iceberg, shattering the frozen metroids within. She relaxed her right arm with the arm cannon as she continued to move on.

And now the events of Metroid II continue.

* * *

Two weeks have passed. Two long grueling weeks of looking for the Metroid Queen while blasting metroids in the way out of the way and collecting a few fun upgrades. Samus still saw no sight of Adam or anyone from the Galactic Federation troops. 

_Is SR388_ _really that big?_

This was her daily schedule in the planet. First, she'd come out from the ship after eating a small breakfast in her suit, then travel through caves, destroying any threat that threatened her life. She used her visor to scan for any spot she didn't visit. Every day she would find several rooms that she never visited before according to her scanner. The planet was just that big. After she was done exploring and looking for the queen, she returned to her ship for the night, ate a quick dinner, then slept for the night, keeping her ship on alert mode.

Unfortunately, she was starting to run low on rations. She could only survive on this planet for a few more days before she has to restock.

Samus sat down on a rock, keeping watch for any monsters, including metroids, and resting. While resting, she looked at the map in her visor and saw that there was only one room remaining that she did not visit.

_Unless the Metroid Queen moves, she's probably in that last room, or at least near it…_

Samus stood up after taking out another metroid in the vicinity and walked in the direction that her map pointed her in. She was also worried, worried about the man whose face she never saw, the first person that she felt affection towards…

After several boring hours of walking and shooting, Samus finally reached the blue door that leads to the room she has never visited. She shot it and it instantly opened. She walked in.

What she saw almost made her scream.

Dead corpses lied everywhere, all members of the Galactic Federation. All the troops sent to the planet by the Federation were dead, all except for one.

Adam was being strangled by several green tentacles of the large disgusting queen metroid, yelling in pain as his energy was being sucked. The metroid queen was immobile, simply stuck across the wall, although its tentacles were more than enough to be potential sucking weapons.

"Adam!!!" Samus cried, running towards the metroid queen. Adam turned his head to see her running, firing her ice beam to freeze the various tentacles trapping him.

"It's you…" he muttered before he fainted, falling to the ground as Samus destroyed the last of the tentacles. She looked at his masked face for a moment before looking up to face the metroid queen.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this and make your race extinct…" Samus muttered as she faced the queen's face. "But it's my job… Forgive me."

Samus immediately fired several missiles into the queen's face, causing her to roar in pain and flail her tentacles wildly around. The tentacles quickly wrapped themselves around Samus, who transformed into her ball form to escape and rolled towards the queen. She bounced several feet into the air, then fell back down, dropping several blue bombs in the queen's face. The queen roared again and shot its mouth forward, literally eating the ball Samus!

All seemed hopeless for a few seconds when there was a whirring sound. Instantly, the queen's body exploded, shooting blobs of green blood everywhere in the room. Samus had just planted an explosive power bomb inside the queen's stomach.

Suddenly, the room began to shake violently. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling, all over the dead carcasses of the troops. Adam finally began to stir awake, then looked up.

"No… A self-destruction system… So the space pirates have already been here…" he gasped.

Samus widened her eyes. "We have to get out of here then!" She grabbed Adam's hand and lifted him to his feet, and they both looked at each other in the eyes for a moment (but they couldn't see each other's faces, HA!)

Adam pointed at a small egg left behind. "What's that?" he asked. "Another… metroid egg?"

The egg immediately opened, revealing a tiny metroid flying around. Adam held up his gun in defense, but the metroid seemed a bit more peaceful. It whimpered for a second, then floated towards Samus, resting on her shoulder. Samus was freaked out and shocked, but Adam smiled as he put his gun away.

"It must think you're its mother," he said. "We shouldn't kill it."

"Are you kidding?" Samus replied. "Of course we shouldn't!"

The room began to shake violently, and the two ran through the room at full speed, with the baby metroid trailing behind. A pile of rubble blocked the entrance door, so they had to use the exit hall.

Suddenly, another pile of rocks fell directly in front of the two, trapping them. The metroid immediately cleared it away with its powerful claws, and Samus gave it a smile.

"Thanks."


	64. Chapter 64: The Infant Metroid

Hack: Another chapter of the past done! This one is heavily focused on the events of Super Metroid, so there WILL be ending spoilers on that game!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 64: The Infant Metroid**

"I don't know how many times I have to thank you, because it never seems enough. It's already twice you've saved me, lady!" Adam exclaimed happily.

"I can't leave any ally in front of me dead," Samus simply replied with a hoarse voice. It seemed obvious that she was disturbed by something before.

Adam noticed it. "Is it that metroid again? Stop being pessimistic, at least the Galactic Federation didn't order the death of it. I can't say that I agree with their actions though…"

"Using the metroid for hours and hours of research?" Samus coldly replied. "No, I'd hate you if you did."

To Samus's surprise, it seemed like Adam just smiled back behind his helmet. "I'd do the same to be honest, lady. That baby metroid saved us from what would have been guaranteed death for us…"

"I can feel the hours of pain he goes through every hour, his cries. I can't stand it."

"…You feel like his mother?"

"Not exactly. It's just that he thinks of me as his mother, because I was the first person he saw."

Adam simply leaned on the window, looking through it to see many scientists experimenting with vapors and liquids squeezed from the metroid. "We had no choice… We are the Federation's tools. We are to follow their orders. In this case, their orders are to have us surrender the metroid as a tool, not as a living being.

The metroid is being used, Samus. We are being used. And the Galactic Federation is being used too."

Samus looked up. "What?"

"Never mind. But you have to look at the bright side. The research is being used to improve life all over the universe. Scientists already found cures for several diseases from the metroid! We just have to duplicate and replicate the DNAs of the chemicals and test them."

"But…"

Adam placed a hand on Samus's back. "I understand completely. I understand what you're going through. You're feeling like the metroid is a child in a way, and it is somewhat a part of your family, no matter how cold you act to other members of the Federation. However, you're giving up your only supposed 'family' for the better good. It's a difficult choice. I completely understand. So… be more optimistic!"

He patted Samus on the back and was about to leave the room when Samus spoke up.

"You're wrong…"

"Huh?"

"He's not my only family…"

"I thought you were raised by the chozo, you don't have any…"

"I have you."

Adam seemed to blush a little, then simply gave a nod as he left the room.

* * *

"I'm heading out." 

"On a mission?"

"Yep. The main chief ordered me to scour the planet Zebes, because we caught a distress call from some stragglers. This is going to be a rescue mission to look for any survivors."

"I see…"

"Expect me to be back in the scientific labs in about a few weeks."

"All right."

* * *

If there was one thing Samus really enjoyed while accomplishing her many bounty missions, it was mother nature acting in space. Whenever she let her ship cruise on its own and on auto-pilot, she'd lean back and look out the windows, staring out into space. The various stars shone brightly, exploding every now and then, ending their lives. She'd see several bright planets, including a few she actually recognized. She'd watch other ships flying around, watching them practice flying tricks and such. One time she thought she saw several Arwings with familiar pilots… She even enjoyed watching a black hole suck in various asteroids, though she made sure to steer clear of them. 

Today was no different. Samus was enjoying another cruise, taking a break from her duties. She leaned back on her recliner chair, looking to her right to spot more beautiful shining stars.

BOOM!

Samus jumped ten feet into the ceiling before rubbing her head in pain. She looked at her radar to notice that a scientific lab was under attack! Even worse, it was the lab with the metroid!

The intercom turn on, only the sound though.

"Samus! Get back… KZZRRRRT under atta KZRRRT quickly KZRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT …dley… AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! ZSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHT"

Samus immediately changed her ship course back to the science lab station and zoomed towards it, seeing several explosions on it. Luckily Adam just left that station…

* * *

The moment Samus set foot into the lab, she screamed. Various scientists and doctors were lying dead among pipes and tables. Shards of glass from beakers and tubes were spread apart everywhere. The room was even slightly flooded with human blood, though only a centimeter high. Samus ran through the room, room after room and seeing disgusting deaths. Several men had their arms and legs torn apart. She even passed by one beheaded. 

She reached a room in a dead end and found the baby metroid in a capsule. She quickly ran towards it to bring it back, but she heard a loud wooshing noise.

WOOSH!

CHING!

Samus jumped back to see Ridley fly by, snatching the capsule.

"Ridley!" She screamed in anger, gritting her teeth.

"Didn't expect me here, huh?" Ridley smirked. "Try to take me down right now!"

Another battle between the two rivals ensued. Ridley flew around, shooting laser beams and sonic slashes at Samus. Samus fired several plasma beam shots and super missiles of her own, countering Ridley's attacks. Both of them took few hits, dodging everything else successfully.

Ridley leered at Samus. "If you want to kill me so bad, get this guy then!" He held the capsule containing the baby metroid in front of him. Samus retracted her missile, biting her lips in anger.

"Let it go! It didn't do anything to you!" she cried.

"Pah!" Ridley slowly began to fly backwards, glaring at Samus. He immediately took off with the metroid, blasting himself through the wall and out through space.

"WARNING! WARNING! SELF DESTRUCTION IN ONE MINUTE!"

Samus glanced at the flying dragon with the loved metroid, then she began to run back to her ship as fast as possible. After a few seconds of uninterrupted running…

"SPEED BOOSTER!" Samus cried. Illusions of herself flashed behind her as she began to run at light speeds, blasting through walls ruthlessly yet quickly. The moment she reached the surface of the station with her ship parked on it, she jumped at it several feet away. With the effects of the speed booster, she jumped several feet forward and landed accurately on the entrance hatchet. She ended her speed booster as she sank into her ship and gave chase after Ridley, who was approaching the planet Zebes, home of Kraid and the space pirates.

_No… No… He's going to be used again… like those bastards did…_

And so begin the events of Super Metroid. The adventure to defeat the space pirates and the revived mother brain. The adventure to finish off Kraid and Ridley. The adventure to save the last existing metroid.

* * *

Two more months passed as Samus ventured the depths of Zebes. She explored several areas like Brinstar, Maridia, Norfair, and even a Wrecked Ship where she fought a ghost named Phantoom. She defeated many beasts including Kraid, Ridley, and Draygon. 

Samus was finally in Tourian, the area with the mother brain. And for some reason, she saw metroids flying around, constantly attacking her.

_I thought they were extinct, save for the baby… What's going on here?_

She froze another metroid inches from her face, then blew it up with a super missile just to see four more metroids approaching her. She disposed of them quickly and continued on her merry way.

She finally reached a room with several webbings around her, which all crumbled under her powerful plasma beam. Suddenly, there was a loud screeching noise. Samus looked up to see an ENORMOUS HUGE-ASS METROID (EHAM) come down on her!

"GAH!" Samus screamed as the metroid covered the entire upper half of her body, sucking her energy away. Samus's screams turned into muffled gasps as she began to kneel down, losing her consciousness.

Suddenly, the EHAM drew away, squealing in horror. Samus lied on the ground, looking up and panting.

_Hey… What gives?_

The EHAM simply floated there for a moment, then disappeared from sight. Samus looked at where it was before with a questioning look before closing her eyes into unconsciousness.

_Was that…_

* * *

Several minutes later, Samus finally stirred awake. It took her a moment to finally realized where she was, and who the metroid was. She immediately progressed through Tourian further, destroying any normal metroid in the way. 

TA DA!

After several long and grueling hours, Samus finally reached the room of the Mother Brain, her main target of the entire mission. She faced an enormous disgusting pink brain behind a large glass capsule in a secluded dark room.

_It's time to finish this…_

BOOM!!!!!

Samus fired several missiles to destroy the glass, exposing the brain. Energy orbs from walls began to fly at her, but she effortlessly dodged every single one of them. The eye of the mother brain finally opened, leaking disgusting green and yellow fluids down the capsule. Samus proceeded to fire another missile into the eye, causing it to close instantly and flash white.

"Huh?"

The mother brain released beams of white light, blinding Samus momentarily. After the light cleared away, Samus face a monster. The brain itself was latched on top of a robotic head with bulging eyes almost about to pop out. The entire head was attached to a brown, scaly and rough body connected to a pair of robotic arms with sharp claws and powerful gray legs with long toenails and bulging metallic thigh muscles.

"Holy… fucking… shit…" Samus cursed under her breath. The new monster controlled by the mother brain held its arms out and dropped several bombs to the ground, several feet away from Samus. Samus looked up, confused, until the bombs actually exploded. They released a circular spreading brown shockwave covering the entire floor of the room briefly. Samus widened her eyes as she immediately jumped into the air.

She just noticed that she'd land while the shockwave was still on the ground.

Not a problem. She fired her grappling beam up into the high ceiling and reeled herself up to the ceiling, avoiding the entire shockwave. She aimed her arm cannon down at the brain and fired several more super missiles.

They did nothing at all.

The mother brain looked up at Samus and fired a large yellow beam up at her. She immediately jumped down to the ground and rolled forward, directly between the monster's legs, and turned to face its back. Samus charged her plasma beam and fired it at the back of the brain. The monster flinched a little, yet it still didn't give any noticeable signs of pain!

BAM!

The monster pinned Samus against the wall with its right robotic hand, beginning to drain the energy from her hastily. Samus grunted as she struggled to release herself from the hand, but she felt her energy quickly leaving her. Her body instantly went limp and the mother brain dropped her to the ground. The eyes seemed to give an expression of self-content. The mother brain roared in triumph as it proceeded to stomp Samus into a pancake.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!

WOOSH!

The EHAM rushed into the room out of nowhere and tackled the monster's head, knocking it back. It immediately latched itself on top of the brain and began sucking energy away, causing the mother brain to roar in pain. It immediately detached itself and flew towards Samus, whose eyes were barely open. Its fangs covered Samus's helmet, but instead of stealing energy, it was giving energy!

"…huh?"

After a minute of restoring Samus's energy and revitalizing her, the mother brain finally regained its posture, approaching her. It drew back a claw, ready to slash at Samus's body…

The claw flew forward.

Samus screamed.

In a span of a millisecond, the EHAM detached itself again and flew in between Samus and the mother brain.

It squealed in pain as it exploded. The mother brain let out a roar of triumph as Samus kneeled there, unable to take in what just happened.

Shock was replaced by grief.

Grief was replaced by distress.

Distress was replaced by anger.

This transition of emotions in Samus occurred in a span of a second.

As the dusty remains of the metroid fell over her, Samus felt a new power surge through her arm cannon. The remains of the metroid? Most likely. Samus was completely revitalized.

"You… fucking… bastard…" She muttered under her breath. "You… DIE!!!!!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Samus began firing her beam weapon at the brain, but it wasn't any ordinary beam. It was a simple straight beam flashing various colors of the rainbow. It pierced through all defenses that the mother brain possessed. It created an explosion wherever it struck. It shot energy through any living thing it zapped.

It was the ultimate Hyper Beam.

Samus simply stood there, spamming her weapon at the face of the mother brain. The mother brain continued to scream in pain with every shot fired at it. It took a step back with every shot until it was trapped at the wall. Fear struck its heart as its eyes looked down at Samus. It was too stunned, too much in pain to retaliate in any way at all. It gave pleading looks to spare it at the bounty hunter.

Samus ignored it. She wanted to kill it for destroying the metroid, the metroid that had saved her life twice. She wanted to not waste its sacrifice and save the world once more with this newfound temporary power. She wanted to save the planet so Adam can stay alive on Zebes.

It was for the galaxy.

BOOM!

The brain finally exploded, dropping several metallic organic pieces of body parts to the ground. Green blood sprayed everywhere in the room, splattering Samus in the gruesome substance. She didn't want to close her eyes. She wanted to see her enemy die. She smiled.

Then she began to frown after realizing the sacrifice that was made to allow her to defeat this monstrosity. The infant metroid who had grown so much saved her life twice, yet she couldn't save it at all. She couldn't save it from being a tool for the scientists.

She felt like she used the metroid as a tool herself.

Suddenly, what was a triumph turned into defeat. Samus looked at the effects of the defeat of the mother brain. Her eyes began to swell up at the losses made.

…_I used him…_

BEEP! BEEP!

The room began to crumble and Samus was struck back to her senses. The lights flashed red as the announcer cried, "Warning! Warning! Self-Destruction in three minutes!"

Samus immediately ran through the opening behind the mother brain and rushed through all of the passages. Every single space pirate she came across, a flare of anger burst and she killed it with the Hyper Beam relentlessly.

She finally arrived in her ship and flew out of the planet, just in time to see it explode. She sighed as she took off her helmet, crying.


	65. Chapter 65: Do Not Worry

Hack: The events in this chapter are all made-up, not in any metroid games at all. There **are** references and quotes from Metroid Fusion, if you're interested! This will also be the last chapter, so the big climax of the past will occur here! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 65: Do Not Worry**

"Well, Samus…" one of the sub-commanders said behind his desk. "You've done a lot for us. You've saved the entire galaxy and defeated several of our space pirate enemies, such as Ridley and Kraid."

Samus nodded. "When do I get my pay for it?"

"Next week. For now, we have another urgent mission for you. We're sending as many people as we can, because the space pirates are at the top of their research. The commander chief officer for this mission whom you will work under is Adam."

Samus couldn't help but give a hidden smile.

"So when will we set out?"

"Tomorrow."

"And I'm going to be a solo unit, is that correct?"

"Actually, no. The entire force will be traveling in one group."

Samus gave a puzzled look. She really preferred working alone, even if Adam was involved. Such an independent person…

* * *

"Space Pirates…" Adam muttered in the ship flying towards Tallon IV. "More research on phazon and the creatures to unleash destruction, I'm guessing…" 

"Are they still operating in Phazon Mines?" Samus asked him.

He nodded. "I hate them. Using living creatures unnecessarily for their own profit…"

Samus looked up. "Adam… Do you know about the infant Metroid?"

"I do. I'm sorry to hear that he's dead in an accident, as the Galactic Federation informed me, my lady."

Samus shook her head. "No… he didn't die in an accident…"

"What? Then how?"

"He sacrificed himself… to save me."

Adam gave a puzzled look. "I… I don't know what to say."

"But do you know what I felt afterwards? I feel like I used him his entire life. He saved my life twice, yet I couldn't help him at all. He was tortured by the scientists, but I couldn't help him...

Adam. **_I_** used him."

Adam placed a hand on Samus's armored shoulder. "That's different."

"Huh?"

"I don't call it being used… I call the metroid saving your life love. Love because you cared for him, even though you couldn't do anything about it. Can metroids consciously evaluate someone's emotions and thoughts? I'm not sure, but anything's possible. That's certainly possible as he felt your love for him."

"…"

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes.

"…Well then, let's discuss our plans for taking out the space pirates once and for all," said Adam as he laid out a map on the table. At least twenty troops (a small unit) stood around the table, along with Samus. Adam spread the map out, revealing the map of Phazon Mines, consisting of several floors.

"All right, troops! This is our landing spot right here, on top of this hill here," said Adam. "Our goal is here, in the bottom basement floor where all the phazon is finally mined. I heard there's an Omega Pirate that hails there, but…"

"I took him out a while ago. He shouldn't be there," said Samus.

"Excellent. We'll have an easier time then. There's a barrier that blocks access to the basement floors, and there are two locks. We want to finish this mission as fast as possible, and the barrier is a ways from our landing point. We'll have to split up into three temporary groups. Two groups will have six troops and the last groups will have me and the rest, including Samus. The two smaller groups will head out to the east and west sides of the surface, destroying the lock. Our forces are small because we don't want to be caught as easily. I doubt there'll be space pirates on the surface, but if there are, there're going to be few. Make sure you don't get caught, and take them out before they find you."

There were murmurs around the room.

Adam smiled. "Don't worry, we're the best of the best in our Federation. We can take them out easily. Our larger group, meanwhile, will be heading for the barrier in seclusion. The Auto Mega Turrets don't alert the mines if they find an intruder, so we can take them out at our leisure. By the time we reach the barrier, the locks should be destroyed and we can head through. The two other groups should get together first before the barrier and make preparations for the ship to leave. Some of you must stay outside to guard it."

"What about your group, commander?" one of the troops asked.

"We'll be heading through the main base, taking out all the pirates. We want to reach the bottom floor to find the self-destruction system."

"WHAT???" Everyone cried out, including Samus.

Adam nodded. "This is the only guaranteed way to take out all of their research on phazon. I'll be initializing the self-destruction sequence. Once I give you all the sign, I want everyone to leave, pronto."

"But commander, the Headquarters wants us to reserve the base and only take out the space pirates."

"Listen to me! I do not believe in the Headquarter's intentions. They want to use the phazon for their own research. They're being foolish idiots. When they take the phazon with them, one greedy being will rise up and infuse the phazon into himself and wreck more havoc! It is inevitable! Do you want that?"

Several soldiers shook their heads.

"Good. I have a secret order for my group when I initialize the sequence, but I'll give out the orders when the time comes. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Any objections?"

"No, sir!"

"We'll split up once we head outside." All of the troops left, but Adam approached Samus.

"What are you planning?" Samus asked.

Adam smiled. "That's my secret. Any objections… lady?"

"Heh… none at all."

Samus then left the ship. Adam frowned. _If anyone here knew what I'm planning on doing… They'd definitely give objections._

* * *

"Everyone ready? Let's go!" 

The groups of twenty split into three groups, running silently in different directions and carrying various beam weapons.

Phazon Mines. The secret hideout for the space pirates. Samus had come here on her second epic adventure to take down the pirates and ultimately defeat her enemy: Metroid Prime. The Phazon Mines was a place where the space pirates mined phazon (duh…) and researched its use.

"It's time to take them down…" Adam muttered under his breath as he silently treaded with his crew and Samus. They sneaked along the shadowed walls to avoid any detection for several minutes. Finally, they reached a large archway leading to a small door in it. The arch was blocked off by two layers of energy.

"Come on… Unlock those other guys…" Samus looked around hurriedly. She wanted to destroy the space pirates once and for all. She **is** a violent woman after all!

Suddenly, there was a loud sound as if the power went out. The orange barrier turned into a light blue, transparent color. A few seconds later, the blue color disappeared as the barrier was completely deleted.

Adam smiled. "Pretty reliable. Let's go, troops."

Everyone slowly crept through the door, avoiding all detection successfully. It was a wonder how a group of about eight was able to sneak together stealthily effectively… All seemed to go well.

Until they walked through the door.

The troops walked in on a group of pirates carrying capsules of phazon.

There was a second of silence.

BOOM!

One of the soldiers fired an instant grenade into the group of pirates and it immediately exploded, sending half of the group flying in various directions. The explosion began an enormous ruckus, though the alarms miraculously did not go off.

Both parties began firing at each other madly, taking cover behind metal pillars. A few more space pirates were taken down expertly, and the remaining ones alive in the room roared in anger, realizing that the Federation troops were clearly more superior. They pushed a button on the back of their wrists, then disappeared instantly!

"Huh?" Many of the troops looked around, confused.

"Everyone! Turn on your thermal vision!" Adam cried out as he fired into thin air. Apparently, he struck an invisible space pirate giving off heat signatures, killing it instantly as it reappeared. One of the soldiers screamed as he felt a scythe stab through him, and he fell to the ground, reducing the group down to seven. Samus dashed around, firing her plasma beam to take out the remaining space pirates in the way with her thermal visor. She whirled around to find another soldier fall to a scythe, dropping to the ground. Six left.

Luckily, the group finally took out the entire space pirate group.

Adam counted the number of troops left. "Two deaths… nothing we can do except move on."

"Sir, there are only five of us! Samus Aran is missing!"

"What?" Adam looked around, just to find the orange-suited woman missing. He shrugged. "She'll be fine. She probably moved on by herself."

"Why don't we catch up then?"

"No need to move fast. She'll take out some of the fleet by herself. Fortunately, we haven't been detected by the entire force, so we shouldn't make any trouble by moving too fast."

* * *

_Another one down…_

Samus withdrew her plasma beam as she struck a space pirate in the neck from behind, killing him silently. She was a little too loud, though.

"What was that?"

"Go check upstairs!"

Samus heard footsteps walk up the stairs, and she transformed into a ball, hiding behind several crates. A space pirate came upstairs.

"Huh… I don't see anything… But just to make sure…" The space pirate pressed a button on a small, gray remote control. Small, yet powerful red turrets emerged downwards from the ceiling.

BOOM!

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The explosive crates exploded as Samus planted a quick power bomb, obliterating everything inside the room. Every single space pirate in the room, including the one checking the storage room, was sent flying in the fiery explosion. All computers were burned to pieces, and capsules were shattered, killing all research creatures contained within them. The only unharmed object was Samus, who unmorphed. She observed the havoc that she wrecked, and then shrugged as she continued on.

Five minutes later, the rest of the troops came into the room, unsurprised by what just happened.

"I heard an explosion a few minutes ago, it must have been Samus…" One of the troops said.

"A few minutes ago? We're right on track then," said Adam. "Samus has a map of the entire mines in her visor, and she clearly knows how to get to the bottom floor, yet I never told her exactly where on the bottom floor…"

* * *

After another hour of grueling sneaking around, Samus finally arrived in the room where she fought the Omega Pirate. It was a large, open room with nothing except a few pools of phazon and a large, empty capsule reaching up to the ceiling of the room. 

_It's been a while since I've been in here… Omega Pirate…_

Adam suddenly came rushing into the room, his gun poised.

"Samus!" You're fine!" Adam gasped.

"Of course I am, you should be fine too."

"Yes… Of course, we took out all the remaining space pirates on the route. I have to head for the control panel of the entire mines system."

"Huh?"

"Samus, thank you for all of your help, but I'm afraid we have to part here. I want you to leave here now."

"…I don't understand. What are you going to do? What about the other troops?"

"They already left on my orders."

Samus looked behind her to see that it was true. The only ones in the large room were them two.

"I don't want to leave you, though!"

"Samus… you have to. Remember, I am your superior, and your commander."

"But-"

KA-BOOM!

"It's you guys…" a pirate trooper hissed.

Every single angle from the room had a space pirate trooper clinging on to a wall, each having a colored stripe on their bodies (yellow, violet, white, or red).

"It's the elemental pirate troopers…" Samus murmured. (REMEMBER? A long time ago, when the smashers fought them before fighting Omega Pirate and Ridley?)

"Samus! I want you to leave, right now!" Adam cried, taking out his gun. "I can handle them and finish what I need to do! Any objections, lady?"

"Yes, Adam!"

"Sadly, you must follow my orders right now whether or not you have any objections! This is an order! I order you to leave, right now!"

Samus stared at Adam.

"Adam… Don't die."

She immediately ran off in the direction that she came from, blasting any space trooper in the way, then ran through the door. Adam closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Samus… This is the way to go, though."

KABOOM!

Adam fired a smoke bomb into the room, blinding every single pirate trooper in the room.

"GARR!"

"What's goin' on?"

"Where did that bounty hunter go?"

"Where did the commander go?"

Adam sneaked into a small elevator and activated a small hologram, causing it to move to the upper floors. He ran across the balconies through the smoke, using a pair of goggles that gives thermal vision so he can see through the smoke. Metal struck metal as his feet tapped across the steel catwalks, not coming close to falling down. He reached another door and ran in, activating another elevator that took him down. He finally arrived in the control room. A sturdy glass window separated this room and the large, unknown room that he was in just seconds before.

Samus was simply standing after she ran through the door, the door closing behind her. She looked back, seeing blinding fog inside.

_I can't leave him behind… I have a bad feeling about this…_

She ran back into the foggy room, where the fog started to clear out again. Before the space pirates knew what hit them, Samus cried out "_Sonic Boom!_" Every single space pirate was taken down by the distorted sound attack, blowing every single thing in the room up.

_He said he's in the control room…_

She looked to her left to see a glass window, revealing a hidden room with control panels and Adam operating on them!

Red lights flashed throughout the entire mines. Samus looked up, hearing the words "ALERT! ALERT! SELF-DESTRUCTION PROCEDURE INITIALIZED! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"

Adam was still operating through the control panels, then he looked up to see Samus and smiled meekly.

"What the hell are you doing?" Samus cried, banging at the window, yet it didn't break. "Get out! Hurry up!"

Adam shook his head. "I can't. Once someone enters the room, it locks whoever enters in and requires a password. I don't have that password."

Samus couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're… What are you… But…"

"Samus. Please leave, I don't want to see you die. You have ten minutes. When you get to the surface, make the order to the troops to leave immediately."

"Don't you understand?" she screamed. "They're going to hold us responsible! The HQ wants to use the phazon and what's left of the research!"

"That's exactly why I want to destroy everything here. I don't want any evil being to rise up again."

"But you're putting our entire troops in danger! We'll be prosecuted! Punished! Exiled! That's how all the officials of the Galactic Federation are!"

"Do not worry. One of them will understand. One of them must."

Those particular words struck Samus like lightning.

"Now go. I don't want to see any creatures of phazon used. I've been wanting a world where everyone was free of will… Not used for other selfish purposes… I see that's impossible now, though. We use creatures, and we are used by others. It's an endless cycle."

"Adam… I love you."

"…I love you too. Now go! That's an order!"

Samus turned around and began to run, then turned around.

"Any objections, lady? It seems like you have some…"

"…Good bye, Adam…"

Ten minutes later, Samus escaped from the Mines and ordered the escape of the GF troops from Tallon IV. Moments after their ships left, the entire Phazon Mines exploded.

"Adam…" Samus dropped a tear from her eyes as she took off her helmet. _I didn't even get to see his face…_


	66. Chapter 66: I Want To Live

Hack: Okay, I lied. This'll be the last chapter about Samus's past, but only half of it. That's right, it'll end in the middle of this chapter. (You all evil psychic people knowing there's still a bit more to it…) You're all quite right. Well anyways, enjoy the beginning of the ending of this ultimate arc!

NOTICE: A few days ago I started a new fic called Tales of Smashing! A Parody! It's my first recent take on a parody and pure humor fic, so check it out! That also means I'll be updating this a bit less since I'll probably be alternating the updates between this and my parody.

ANOTHER NOTICE: **I did not copy all the dialog between Samus and the computer, just the general gist of what they're saying!!!**

* * *

**Chapter 66: I Want To Live**

The X parasites: Deadly parasites that live off their host, infecting their brain systems and taking complete control over the host. They also had the ability to infinitely and asexual reproduce, cloning themselves. Metroids were the X parasites' natural predator, and thus were their natural enemies. However, with the supposed extinction of the Metroids, the X-Parasites are now replicating once again on SR388…

One day, Samus had taken a mission to the planet SR388. Here's the summary of her adventure: She was infected by the X parasite and fell in critical life conditions, almost dead. She was so infected that the scientists were forced to surgically remove her suit from her body. During the operation, however, the X parasite replicated throughout her body, spreading the virus everywhere. It became completely hopeless until someone found a solution.

While researching the metroid infant months ago, scientists had extracted a vaccine from it, containing its unique DNA. With severe research and experimentation, the scientists were able to insert the metroid's DNA into Samus's DNA, merging it. Surprisingly, the X parasites were instantly destroyed. With her organic suit parts removed, Samus emerged from her capsule with the fusion suit, containing the bare layer of her original suit. However, her new suit was fused with the new DNA of the metroid, giving its properties. Such as absorbing X parasites for energy instead of becoming a host. Also becoming susceptible to ice.

The science research station of SR388 was attacked by the X parasites; they left no human survivors and took them for their scientific knowledge. Samus was sent to investigate and destroy the threats.

And so the events of Metroid Fusion begin.

* * *

Samus panted. She arrived in the Navigation Room after learning of the Federation's secret metroid breeding program. The Galactic Federation had saved a few metroids and bred them, keeping them secret from the public. They then used the metroids for extensive research.

_What is going on here? They're all… being used again… No…_

She locked herself in the room then activated the computer of the Navigation Room. A textbox appeared on the screen, and the computer programmed CO began to speak in text.

"Samus, why did you do that? You disobeyed your orders. You may have to pay for that soon…"

"…" Samus stood silent.

"As it's no longer a big secret, the Federation has initiated a top-secret metroid breeding program. Not for violent purposes, of course. But maybe you had your suspicions after seeing Sector 1?"

_This is not good… Sector 1 looked like a replica of SR388…_

Samus stopped reading. She flowed into her own thoughts. _Metroids… Still existent… How could this be? They're all being used too… What is the Galactic Federation up to…?_

Her mind snapped back to reality when she saw the words: "…and one of the SA-X at the moment is coming here…"

"ONE? …There're more than one SA-X?"

The SA-X was an X parasite mimicking Samus's full Varia Suit body. It was slightly more powerful than Samus in her current state.

"Don't be surprised, Samus. You should know that they reproduce by asexual division. By dividing, there are about ten SA-Xs on this station."

"…"

"Samus, you must go. Leave immediately, as soon as possible. If you stay too long, the SA-X will kill you. Stop only at a navigation room to uplink to me. I don't know what the Federation is going to do, but you need to return to base immediately… Is your objective clear?"

"…Yes."

"Now get going."

…_That was harsh… Adam would have been less harsh… Just a simple, heartless machine obsessed with work…_

* * *

After defeating Ridley and recovering her Screw Attack ability, and running back to the Navigation Room through Sector 1, Samus began to receive her next instructions. Things were much more unexpected than she thought, though…

"Samus, we're done here. Leave the rest to the Federation…"

Samus felt an invisible hand slap her in the face. "WHAT???"

"We should be preparing to evacuate the station…"

"Are you joking? Do they know how dangerous the X are? How quickly they reproduce? How deadly they are to humans? They'll kill them!" Samus cried out.

"The Federation has taken an interest in these life forms, since they might have infinite research applications."

"This is crazy! The X are damn heartless abominations of the cruel world! Tell me, what damn potential could they have?"

"You will not understand these matters. The Federation is coming now, at this moment. You should just leave quietly…"

"They're crazy! This station will kill all of them! What could be worth the risk?"

"Capturing the SA-X obviously."

"…Are you serious? Do they seriously think they can succeed? Even I can't defeat it! What is wrong with them?"

"It will definitely be difficult. They now do not expect your help since you would try to destroy the SA-X… That's why they stopped sending you support data…"

_Those idiots… Selfish… They only care about research…_

"The Plasma Beam upgrade was ready a while ago, but the HQ withheld it to keep you from fighting the SA-X head on, but somehow you obtained that function on your own… They also tried to withhold the Diffusion Missile upgrade, but they had already sent it, and you found its data room… Congratulations, Samus."

"They have to cancel this mission! Open a channel to HQ! I must talk to them! I will not let this happen!"

"They are already coming."

"Damn idiots…"

Samus began to walk to the door to open it, but it would not open. She turned around and shot the other door, but it didn't open either.

_The X will just devour their intelligence… Then they'll spread through the universe. The Federation has drastically underestimated them… Those idiots… My computer also locked me in… I have to self-destruct this station to destroy them, even myself if I must…_

Samus approached the screen again. "Open the hatch! Now!"

"I have been ordered to confine you in the Navigation Room until the HQ ships arrive."

"Don't let them do this, it's hopeless! Can't you see what'll happen, Adam?"

Samus gasped. The computer paused for a second.

"…Adam? Who is this Adam?"

"…A friend of mine. My old commander."

"And what would this… friend of yours command you to do now?"

"He would know that the only way to destroy the X parasites is to start the self-destruct cycle of this station. He'd know the world's fate would rest on it…"

"Did this 'Adam' care about your life? Would he sit in a safe Command Room and order you to unnecessarily die?"

"He would understand that some must live and some must die…He knew what it meant and he made that sacrifice on a mission in the past…" Samus dropped a teardrop, though it wasn't visible behind her helmet.

"So, he sacrificed his life for you? Our daring, valiant bounty hunter, Samus Aran. Your friend Adam gave his life in order to save yours… For the fate of the universe…"

"…" Samus waited for a reply. The computer didn't print anything for minutes, but Samus patiently waited for its response.

"How foolish."

The response completely caught her off guard. Patience turned into anger.

"How dare you! How can you understand any damn thing at all, you little machine?" She wanted to strangle the computer, shut it down, destroy it, but she resisted her temptations. "You don't know anything! **ANYTHING!!!**"

"You should know that destroying this station orbit would not guarantee the extinction of the X parasites everywhere throughout the universe, even though this station would be destroyed into ruins… You would only successfully remove the one obstacle to the destruction of the galaxy… yourself. You would ignore this simple fact and commit suicide. When Adam decided who would live, he was wrong."

Samus was confused now.

"…If you were to change the station's orbit then you can include the planet in the explosion range of the station's self-destruction. You can destroy both at once."

_What is it saying… What is it trying to do?_

"You have to start this sequence immediately. Before the Federation arrives on the station."

…_This… this is starting to feel familiar…_

"Samus, this is your last mission from me. Head for the Operations Room of the Main Deck and adjust the station's orbit path so it will collide with SR388."

_WHAT???_

"Then return to your ship and escape. After you are done, escape on your ship. Be quick and stay alive."

"But…"

"That's an order!"

"…"

"Any objections, lady?"

Samus shook her head. She immediately left the room in confusion.

_No way… It couldn't be… Could it be Adam…?_

_No. He's dead! He sacrificed himself at Phazon Mines to destroy all the stations there._

_But this computer is telling me to do the same with this station, except to stay alive… Did he think it was a mistake to die?_

_He's dead. There's nothing about it. It's all just a coincidence. He just used himself to save the world…_

_Using yourself… Using a human… I don't understand why people would do that. I hate people that use other humans…_

_Then you should hate yourself._

_What?_

_You used the metroid to escape SR388 after defeating the Metroid Queen. You used the metroid to energize yourself against the Mother Brain with the Hyper Beam. You used the metroid, even after its death, to save yourself from the X parasite. And you're saying that you hate everyone that uses others?_

…_That's… different…_

_Screw different. If you're saying all people who 'use' should die, you should just kill yourself._

…

_The Federation should just all die off._

_Yes… The Galactic Federation is filled with hypocritical bastards… They use for selfish reasons…_

Samus eventually found out that Adam's mindset was inputted into the computer, causing her computer CO to mimic Adam's personality.

After a few more missions from HQ, Samus forcibly resigned from the Federation despite her large fees, particularly after she learned of another secret Metroid breeding program. It simply reminded her of the infant metroid that saved her, and Adam…

Samus was in her ship one day, and the thoughts of the Federation entered her mind. Using the metroid infant without a care for its feelings, Adam's views… 

"**I HATE THE FEDERATION, DAMN YOU!!!!!!" **Samus screamed.

* * *

Samus jumped in midair towards Ridley. She quickly shot a Super Missile, which Ridley deflected. She transformed into a morph ball and boosted between Ridley's legs, planting a power bomb, but Ridley took flight again to avoid the explosion. Samus appeared in front of him, still somersaulting. A force field of green energy surrounded her as she jumped into Ridley's chest. Captain Falcon smiled.

"Go Samus! Screw Attack that bastard!"

Samus flew through Ridley's weak spot with the screw attack. Ridley cried once again in pain, but he immediately whirled around and grabbed Samus, glaring at her.

"Samus!" Captain Falcon cried, but Ridley was too far away to attack. _If only if I had projectiles like everyone else I can help her… damn it…_ Falcon could only watch as Ridley staggered, and started to fall down.

"You idiot! Get back to Omega Pirate! Find a way to stop him! Don't worry about me, I'll be back!"

"Samus!" Captain Falcon cried.

Samus simply fell and fell and fell with Ridley continuing to hold her in his right claw. He suddenly began to talk to her.

"You hate the Galactic… Federation, right…?" Ridley coughed.

This sudden question in the middle of a fight caught Samus off guard. "W-Wha… What?"

"You know it. You know of all their secrets, how they only want to process resources for their own gain."

"…What do you know?"

"More than you think, little brat. You see, the Federation has been using you all the time."

"…What?"

"Killing me and Kraid has always caused the Federation's approval rating to go up. They gain more money. By using you to repeatedly defeat me and my partner, the Federation simply gains more and more while you don't get anything."

"It's because you're evil beings of the universe…"

"Tell me, Samus, what exactly did we do? We simply ruled our spots. We simply ruled over places that were literally _named_ after us!"

"…"

"So what do you think the smashers are doing this time to you?"

"They're my friends… They actually care about me, almost as much as _he_ did…"

Ridley grinned; things seemed to go as planned. "Then… they have been deceiving you."

Samus began to take Ridley's words into heart.

"They are using you again. Nothing is going on with the Ring of Darkness. The ten of us, along with our boss, are not doing anything to threaten the world. Your so called friends are using you for personal gain. Do you understand?"

"…Yes."

"Hide what you think right now, then stab them in the back. Allow me…"

Ridley's body began to disintegrate, then he exploded. White light flowed from him and into Samus's suit, causing it to glow. After a few seconds, Samus's suit turned silver. She shot her grappling beam at the ledge to grab onto it, just to hear Captain Falcon say…

"Samus, you better fucking get back… and soon, babe."

Samus growled under her breath, then shook her head. "Don't worry, I'm coming back… you flirt."

* * *

The entire room was quiet. Samus had finally finished everything about the metroid, Adam, the Galactic Federation, and her views. Luigi, Fox, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon were bewildered.

"I… I never knew that…" Jigglypuff stuttered.

"I thought I'd believe Ridley… I was so immersed in my hate against the Federation. I shared the same beliefs of Adam, especially after his sacrifice in the Phazon Mines. I felt that I didn't deserve to live after all the metroid did for me."

"But you couldn't help it," said Fox. "There was nothing you can do about it."

"But I didn't do anything for it… I'm a failure. I just can't… I feel like… dying."

Samus felt a hand on her shoulder and it was from Captain Falcon.

"Samus, every life has meaning to it. No matter how tough things are, you have to keep going. Dying will not accomplish anything, girl," said Falcon. "And the metroid saved you while you couldn't save it. So what? It's the Federation that fixed the circumstances where you can't help it, so you're saying you have to die? If you want to blame someone, blame those damn Federation asses."

"He's right for once, Samus."

"For once?"

Luigi ignored Falcon. "What I learned from the person I idolized… My brother… He taught me that you can't take a step back. You must keep pushing forward. The end result will always reward you. No matter how hard things get, if you look back, you will fall apart."

"I idolized Adam… I shared his views. I just…" Samus sighed.

"You can't always depend on one person all the time, Samus," said Jigglypuff. "You have friends this time. You are not alone. You have us."

"I…"

"No matter what happens, you have to keep living," said Fox.

"…Keep living?"

"Yeah."

"…I don't know what to say…"

"I have something that you can say right now," said Falcon with a serious tone. "I will move on with my past and live. I want to live. Say it."

Samus began sobbing. She couldn't control herself.

"I…I… I will…"

"Come on, Samus. You don't want to stay on here forever. We are your friends," said Luigi. "Remember what we've went through all the time."

"…move on… with…" Samus's voice began to crack.

"Forget about the Federation, Samus!" Jigglypuff called out. "Leave your past behind and move on!"

"…my past…"

"You can't continue sulking into Adam's beliefs. You have to be yourself all the time. You know you want to be with us and move on," said Fox. "I know it."

"…and live…"

"Samus! Say it!" Falcon cried out, holding up his fist to give courage.

"…" Samus took a deep breath, then screamed, "I WANNA LIVE!!!!!!"


	67. Chapter 67: The Funeral

Hack: The smashers are finally leaving! The conclusion of the arc begins! Not much to say, except enjoy this conclusion (ish) !

* * *

**Chapter 67: The Funeral **

A funeral. After all their battles up on the Halberd, Luigi, Samus, Fox, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon were standing in the backyard of Peach's instantly-rebuilt castle. This backyard used to inhabit ghosts, but now they were long gone. This backyard was used as a graveyard for the dead.

In the center of the field was the largest gravestone anyone could have possibly seen.

The Gravestone of Mario.

Mario, the lover who saved Peach from Bowser, the idol who took everyone in as a brother, the plumber who defeated every threatening form of a villain that attacked the kingdom, the carpenter who had many rivals at his disposal, the man who had endless eternal courage.

The great hero who had sacrificed himself to defeat Grodus and save the kingdom one last time.

The entire yard was crowded with various people. Everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom, every single toad, koopa, goomba, bomb-omb, mouse, pianta, and penguin , stood in front of the grave to give their honor to the famed Mario.

An old toad stood behind a stand, reading off of a scroll of paper on the stand.

"We give our respects to the honorable man, who has saved our world as many times as we can imagine…"

Princess Peach held a tissue by her eyes, drying her flooding tears from her face.

_I knew this would happen one day… He'd do everything he can to save the world, even sacrifice his life…_

"…The one who has gone through many perilous trials…"

Bowser sat there, glaring at the grave.

_That idiot… How could he… If only if I had one last chance to fight him… My eternal rival…_ He wiped a tear from his eye. _I'll miss that damn bastard…_

"…The one who expressed infinite kindness and bravery…"

Yoshi took a bite out of an apple rather than swallowing it whole (it was disrespectful, swallowing food as a whole).

_I knew him since he was a baby… And what a man he grew into. Rest in peace, Mario…_

"…The one who taught us the many imperative lessons of life…"

Donkey Kong scratched his head, sitting on the ground.

_I never knew you too well Mario, but I knew you well enough to know how great you are… Rest in peace. I'll miss you…_

"…The one who has given everything a person can give to the kingdom. Nobody has given more than Mario. Everybody, give your respects to him… Pray to the stars for his safety in the heavens…"

Everyone closed their eyes, clasping their hands together to pray to the stars.

After several minutes passed, the old toad opened his eyes again. "It is time for the final burial."

Several Lakitus carried a large coffin using several pieces of invisible string, then lowered it into the hole in front of the stand. Several moles popped out from the ground and began to quickly shoot dirt on top of the coffin, burying it. Once the dirt was on ground level, they began to smooth out the surface.

"Mario Mario, our hero, we will never forget you… the legend of Mushroom Kingdom…"

Luigi held up his hand, tears flowing from his face. He clasped his hand into a fist.

_It's finally happened… My brother… the one I looked up to… You've done so much for me, yet I couldn't do anything… My idol, I look up to you all the time. I can't believe that you've passed away…_

_After all this time on the Halberd, it seemed like ages that you've gone away._

_But I will always remember that your teachings will live through my heart. You will always live as a spirit within me. You are never truly gone._

_Mario, I will take your lessons to heart and follow your path. I will save this kingdom and the entire universe from all threats._

_Your last lesson to me… Use everything you've got… That was it, wasn't it? You used your life to save the kingdom from Grodus._

…_I have no regrets now. What is done is done. I will move on with my quest. Watch over me, Mario…_

* * *

One week after the funeral, the smashers were amazingly fully recovered and planned on leaving in the next day.

"I'm glad you took a week to rest, because those injuries of yours were serious, Fox," said Peach. "How did you manage to survive those slashes from Metaknight?"

"I don't know…" said Fox. "But Luigi told me about his fight with Alex. You should ask him how he survived all those water attacks. I would have died if I were him…"

The two were the only ones remaining in the dining hall, eating their breakfast. Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, and Samus had already finished eating. Luigi has not been seen today yet.

"Ah… I see… Where is he again?"

"I expect out in the backyard as usual again…" Fox sighed. "Losing his brother must've been a big thing to him."

"Yes, you should have seen how close they are…"

"He's taking his brother's death a lot better than I took Falco's death…"

"I'm not too sure about that… I think I'll go check up on him right now," said Peach as she left the room.

* * *

Samus was lying on her bed of the guest's bedroom, pondering about her existence. What had happened one week ago on the Halberd.

She felt accepted. She felt thankful. She felt loved. She felt respected.

It was all thanks to her friends.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said. Captain Falcon opened the door and walked in.

"Samus, babe…"

Samus rolled her eyes. "Again? Back to your old charades?"

"Naw, I'm serious right now. What do you feel for Luigi?"

"What?"

"I know things haven't been easy for you, and Luigi's problems aren't as bad as you, but since you know him best out of us four, you should go down to talk to him."

"He always hangs around in the graveyard, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'll go talk to him."

"Go ahead. I'm not stopping you."

"And Captain Falcon…" Samus said as she opened the door to leave.

"Yeah?"

"…Thank you for caring."

* * *

Jigglypuff was out in the front yard, training with her moves again.

"_Solarbeam!!!!_" she cried. She charged it momentarily, and then fired it quickly into the sky, much quicker than before. She looked at a stop watch.

"Two seconds… Still too much time… But then again, it's a lot faster than before when I took over five seconds to charge it…"

_It was mere luck that I defeated Black Shadow… He was caught off guard by Disable. He's not dead yet either. I can feel that I'll have to face his full power again._

_His Ren Kiu power is much more powerful than his normal form. I must train to be able to defeat that. The same trick won't work twice. He won't be fooled by Disable._

Fox came out of the castle and saw Jigglypuff charge another Solar Beam attack.

"Solarbeam!!!"

After a moment, she fired it again into the sky.

"Training again? This is a time for relaxation, Jigglypuff!" Fox cried.

"I took the least injuries out of all four of us. You and Captain Falcon almost died. Luigi almost died until Alex's recovery ability backfired."

"That's true…"

"And besides, it worries me."

"How?" Fox asked.

"Because I can sense that Luigi is the most powerful out of all of us, yet he was barely able to defeat Alex, the weakest of the top Ring of Darkness members."

"You defeated Black Shadow, though!"

"Only because I stopped him from using Ren Kiu using Disable. The same trick won't work next time. I'm sure I would have been killed if I didn't use Disable…"

"…Oh. Still, you take it far too seriously."

"…Maybe."

"We're heading off tomorrow, but we need to think about our next destination."

"I have an idea…" said a dark voice. Ganondorf and Link (young) came from the castle again.

"What's your idea then, Ganondorf?" Fox asked.

"I remember telling Luigi and Samus months ago about Nergal's dragon summoning ritual. One of the ingredients to the Endowment of Exigency is the life force of dragons."

"What about it?" Jigglypuff asked.

"Nergal's ritual is actually going to be complete very soon."

"…That is not a good thing…" said Fox.

Link began to speak. "So I suggest that we head for Pherae, the land that Nergal hails from, and stop his ritual."

"Wait, we?"

"Yeah. We'll be going with you guys for the moment," said Link. "That's all right with Ganondorf too, since Nabooru is handling all the political matters in the Gerudo Desert."

Jigglypuff smiled. "That's great! We can use all the help we can get!"

Fox coughed. "I'm sure Nergal will be a pushover though, seeing as he was the second weakest member."

"We have to move quickly though, because Dragons are not pushovers…" said Link. "Roy told me about them. They're all so powerful that even Nergal couldn't control them long ago. He probably has the power to, with the Endowment of Exigency and all that…"

"So after Pherae, we need to plan our destination after that," said Jigglypuff.

"What else? We track down the rest of the Ring of Darkness and defeat them!"

Fox remembered something that Luigi told him, passing Metaknight's message on.

"Pikmin… I remember reading a documentary about them in an unknown world. I remember the words 'Dream Den' and 'Wistful Wild' in it, and Metaknight said that we'll be fighting there one more time."

"That's simple then!" Captain Falcon cried as he walked in. "We just look for that Pikmin world!"

"He basically said it," said Fox, smiling. "Acting by instincts, I like that."

KABOOM!

"WHAT THE HELL????" Everyone cried as they jumped into the air. The ground shook violently for a moment, then it stopped.

"What… was that?" Fox asked.

"I… have no fucking idea…" Falcon replied calmly.

"Geez, do you have to curse every second? It really isn't necessary…" said Link.

"Sorry dude, but that's how I fucking talk, dude!"

Link sighed. "We should go check what that was."

"Huh? I found a couple weird white feathers scattered around here!" cried Link.

Captain Falcon looked through the boulders. "Looks like some sort of angel fell down, but I don't see any damn guy around here…"

"Everyone, move!" Jigglypuff called.

"Huh?" said Ganondorf.

"Just do as she says, trust me," said Fox, smiling. The four smashers moved out of the way, behind Jigglypuff as she cried…

"Psychic!!!"

All of the boulders in the crash landing site levitated in the air briefly, then they all exploded almost immediately. In the hole below was a young teenage boy with brown hair, sandals, and white Roman-like robes. What was most intriguing, however, were his pair of beautiful, lush, white angel wings and his golden bow.

"Who the hell is this guy?" asked Captain Falcon.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like he needs help…" said Fox. "Let's get him back into the castle!"

* * *

Luigi was simply sitting in front of Mario's grave, looking out into space. Nothing was going on in his mind, except that sitting in the graveyard was his personal moment with Mario. He wanted to spend as much time with Mario as he could before leaving his home.

He zoned off into space, thinking of everything that they did in their childhood.

Suddenly, he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. He looked around to see Samus standing over him.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"…You okay?" Samus simply asked.

"I should be asking that to you, our mission was to save you."

"Don't worry, I'm fine, thanks to all of you guys. But you're acting unusual these days."

"I just… want to stay with Mario."

"…I see… That's fine. I'll leave you for now, then. Remember to get some sleep."

"I will. Don't worry."

Samus turned to leave, but she saw Princess Peach and Toadsworth enter the graveyard. She ignored them as she walked back into the castle.

"Luigi… Did Mario say anything before he died?" Peach asked calmly.

Luigi simply stared at the graveyard like a stoned ghost for over a minute. When he finally responded, he said, "Yes… He told me to ask you about some Kamek incident… before he ordered me to leave…"

Peach's eyes widened. Toadsworth looked up to her.

"But surely…" whispered Toadsworth. "…These news would truly enrage Luigi… It would put our hero's name to shame…"

Peach shook her head. "It's Mario's last wishes, and we must respect it. Luigi knows nothing about this incident, not even the name, so he can't know about it if Mario didn't tell him to learn of it from me."

Luigi finally turned around. "Huh? What's it about?"

"It's…"

"I will explain it," said Toadsworth. "I remember the events best after Mario."


	68. Chapter 68: The Secret Kamek Incident

Hack: The past events are pretty short, but pretty climaxish. Also Enter Pit! Enjoy this chapter!

All events in the past happen before Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, just to let you know.

* * *

**Chapter 68: The Secret Kamek Incident**

"You should remember…" Toadsworth started. "Long ago, years ago, you and your older brother were kidnapped by Kamek as toddlers."

Luigi nodded. "Yeah… We've been kidnapped three times, two of them Yoshi rescued me."

"Yes. The third time, though, was different."

"Huh?"

Toadsworth shook his head. "I… I can't go on. I just don't want to defile Master Mario's name…"

"You have to, though…" Peach replied, shaking. "It's his last wish…"

Toadsworth gulped. "…Okay, my princess…"

* * *

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi were both sharing the same cell. It was the third time that they were captured, and this time they were actually treated as criminals in a jail cell. They were both starving, pitch black in dirt, and stripped of their former clothing, wearing brown, ripped robes. The only piece of clothing they kept were their former M and L hats, so Kamek can differentiate between the two. 

Baby Luigi poked Baby Mario, tears in his eyes.

"…Hm?" He pointed at his stomach. Mario shook his head. Luigi began crying again.

"No! Shhhhh!!!!!!!!"

"Wahhhh!!!!!"

"Who's that?" A koopa with a purple shell and black shades came walking in with another whip. Luigi immediately shut up. The koopa looked at Mario.

"So it was you again?" The koopa said to Mario.

Mario closed his eyes for a moment. He had protected Luigi's constant tantrums at least ten times in the past week they were imprisoned. He was tired of it. He had taken all the hits for Luigi. It was Luigi's fault that he was bleeding.

Mario pointed at Luigi. The koopa turned and saw Luigi's eyes, which were watery. "So… You do know to keep the silence around here, don't you?"

Luigi's eyes widened. His brother had always protected him… Why not this time? Luigi turned to Mario as Mario shook his head in disapproval.

"It's time for a whipping for you…" The koopa opened the door and dragged Luigi out of the prison cell…

Mario leaned against the wall, content with what he had done. It was all Luigi's fault…

* * *

"Food! Be happy that Kamek's letting you live!" Another violet koopa with shades yelled as he tossed a small loaf of bread into the cell of the brothers. 

Mario grabbed the loaf of bread, and Luigi crawled up to him. Mario sighed as he tore the loaf of bread, giving Luigi a third of it.

Luigi innocently raised his eyebrow, then pointed at the larger loaf of bread Mario had. Mario shook his head.

"No. You eat more before. I eat more now."

"Huh?" Luigi continued to point at the larger loaf of bread, but Mario shook his head again.

"Take care of self now! No!"

A tear formed in Baby Luigi's eye, and he began to bawl again. The same koopa instantly reappeared by the cell door.

"Again? When will you ever learn to stay quiet in Kamek's castle?" He opened the door and grabbed Luigi by the scruff of the shirt.

Baby Mario had just realized. He could assault the koopa right now with the cell door open and save Luigi, then they can both escape!

No, Luigi had to learn. He had to learn to stop being such a crybaby. Even though saving him right now was technically the best choice, Luigi would still be an annoying crybaby and Mario would have to baby sit him.

Mario simply sat there, glaring at Luigi and awaiting his cries from the whips of the koopa.

* * *

Another weak of starvation in prison. The two Mario brothers were still sitting there, trying to think of a way to escape. 

Their one chance finally came when Luigi was to meet with Kamek face to face.

"You have been a pain in the neck lately…" Kamek muttered to Luigi who had his hands tied. He was so frightened that he could not cry; he simply looked up at the magikoopa with stoned fear planted in his wide, innocent eyes. Kamek paced back and forth around his gray, stone throne. "But your Yoshi pal isn't here to save you and your older brother this time. Looks like you both are stuck. I know that you have the star, and I wouldn't be surprised

And this time, I will have it!"

Kamek fired a laser at the vulnerable Luigi. Knowing of the impending danger approaching, Luigi used his legs to spring upwards into the ceiling. The laser struck the ground, leaving a small explosion.

Kamek growled. "How dare… How dare you embarrass me… as a little infant… Die!" He fired a triangular beam at Luigi, who was balancing himself on the beam innocently.

"Uh Oh, Luigi gotta go!"

Luigi jumped off, avoiding the laser, and landed on Kamek's face. He flipped off and began running in the other direction, towards the door.

* * *

"Come on, Yoshi, can't you get there any faster?" The younger Toadsworth cried as he rode Yoshi, who didn't look a year different. 

"Be patient! I'm almost there!" Yoshi panted lightly as he ran up the ramps circling the entire castle. "I've been here before, Kamek's throne is in the very top! Hold on, Mario and Luigi!"

* * *

"You're lucky Kamek selected your brother and not you…" Said another blue-shelled koopa. He worse sunglasses too, since it was traditional for all of the enemy koopas to wear sunglasses to look cool. 

"Lucky?" Baby Mario asked innocently.

"Very. Your brother… Kamek knows about his star. He's going to kill him for the power, then he'll be after you next…"

"…Kill? Wuzzat?"

"Killing… Taking away someone's life." The koopa sighed. He turned to see another red-shelled koopa feeding another cell prisoner. The blue-shelled koopa grabbed a concealed knife and threw it at the neck of the other koopa. Instantly, before knowing what happened, the red-shelled koopa's eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"See? That's Kill. Get it? K-I-L-L."

"…Kamek, kill… Luigi?" Baby Mario whispered.

"He will."

"…No!" Baby Mario jumped into the air and jumped on the koopa's face, cracking his sunglasses. He leaped off of the koopa's face, then used a butt stomp on its face, knocking him on his back.

"Gah!" The koopa cried as he tried to get back on his feet, but it was too late. Baby Mario used another butt stomp on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. The koopa stopped struggling, his body going unconscious. Baby Mario leapt off and ran in the direction of the exit of the prison. For a brief moment, however, he glanced at the other dead koopa with the knife in his neck.

* * *

"Can you stop jumping, damn it?" Kamek yelled as he continued to fire his wand at the jump-happy Baby Luigi. He even mounted his broom to get to his target closer, but he still missed. 

"WHEEEE!!!!" Baby Luigi cried as he jumped around, dodging every beam. Kamek was so focused in shooting Baby Luigi that he didn't notice the green-haired baby jumping closer and closer.

BAM!

Baby Luigi landed on Kamek's face, then leapt off, pushing Kamek off of his flying broomstick. Luigi flipped in the air as gracefully as a baby can then pointed his butt down at Kamek.

BAM!

"GAH!" Kamek coughed out blood as Luigi smashed into his stomach. Luigi flipped off, and Kamek immediately stood on his feet again.

"Gr…" he growled angrily. "I won't go so easy now… Die!!!"

Kamek summoned a yellow block above Luigi, who didn't look up. Before he knew it, however, the block fell on his small body, trapping him below it.

"Noooo!!!"

Mario jumped into the room, grabbing a hammer leaning against the wall, and smashed it in the back of Kamek's head. Kamek, who was too tired to react, fell to the ground. Luigi looked up, impressed by this show of bravery and power.

"Wow!" Luigi exclaimed, ignoring the pain in his back and ignoring his inability to escape the block's entrapment.

Yoshi immediately came into the room, carrying Toadsworth. The two of them just witnessed Baby Mario taking out Kamek, who was lying on the ground unconscious with broken glasses. His blue robes were ripped and laid across the floor dirtily.

"Did you just see that, Yoshi?" exclaimed Toadsworth as he pointed at Mario. "He took out Kamek… By himself!"

Yoshi nodded. "Yep. He's truly our hero, this should go down in history. Infant Mario taking out the eternal villain Kamek. And thanks to him we finally have Kamek downed and available for imprisoning for execution."

Luigi grunted.

"And here's Luigi! Our younger brother! Yoshi, help me get him out from this block…"

Toadsworth and Yoshi stood at opposite ends of the yellow block and grabbed it, trying to pry it off. To no avail, they were unable to budge it.

"HI-YAH!" Baby Mario smashed his hammer into the block, shattering it and releasing Luigi from his grip.

"Thank you very much!" Luigi cried with his baby accent, smiling.

"No problem!" Mario replied, returning a cute smile.

* * *

"…I don't get it…" said the adult Luigi. "I don't remember this very clearly, all I remember was being imprisoned then being rescued…" 

The elder Toadsworth cleared his throat. "Mario told me everything. The truth is, if it were not for you, he could not have taken out Kamek. You were the hero of the story, Luigi."

Peach swallowed her throat nervously, then glanced at Toadsworth. Toadsworth nodded.

"However, Mario was known to be the hero. After that event, everyone believed him to be the hero of Mushroom Kingdom. He immediately turned famous."

"…I still don't get it…" muttered Luigi.

Peach finally blurted it out. "It's because of this that you were the underdog of Mario when you should have been the hero! If it weren't for this, you would be happier, not just living under Mario's shadow. The two of you would have been living together as equals. It's because of this event that everyone decided Mario was the hero and you were the coward, then everyone ignored you for the years after that."

"…"

"Mario told me that if you ever mentioned it to us… He wanted us to tell you the truth of that incident. He wanted you to know that you should have been his equal."

Luigi stood silent.

_If it weren't for this, I would be famous too… I'd be popular, not swept under the rug like a meaningless shadow…_

_But Mario was your idol…_

_My idol…_

_You looked up to him all the time…_

_But he betrayed me… He was a filthy hypocrite… What should I believe in now?_

Luigi felt his two hands flare with fire and electricity…

* * *

Pit, the angel commander, opened his eyes in his bed. 

"You're awake!" Jigglypuff cried as she ran to his side. "Are you all right?"

Pit sat up immediately, but Jigglypuff shoved him back down.

"…Who are you?" Pit asked. "Where am I?"

"You're in Mushroom Kingdom, you're safe here for the moment. Wait just a moment, I'll get everyone else really quickly." Jigglypuff then swiftly left the room.

Pit looked at his surroundings. Surrounding him was just white, white, and more white. The walls, curtains, floors, ceiling, bed, chairs, everything was white, as white as pure snow.

He was in a medical room. It was just that plain obvious.

Several more people rushed into the room. They included Jigglypuff, Fox, Captain Falcon, Link, and Ganondorf. No Samus or Luigi.

"It's you! Are you all right?" asked Fox.

"I'm fine… I'm fine… Don't worry about me, it's no big deal…" Pit politely replied. "Please… I'll be fine."

"Phew, that's a relief," said Link. "When we found you unconscious after creating a crater, we thought you'd be dead."

"Damn dead," Captain Falcon blurted out.

"You don't need to worry about us," said Jigglypuff. "The only one you should worry about is yourself… And Captain Falcon, who's a downright pervert and curser."

"…that's not very nice, Jiggs…"

Pit chuckled. "I see you have a nice sense of humor, you two. I don't know your names yet, may you all introduce yourselves to me?"

"After you show who you are and how you ended up here to us," said Ganondorf darkly.

Pit nodded. "My name is Pit and I am the leading commander of the angels in Angel Land of our goddess, Palutena. I am also the leader of the Icarus Army. My goddess Palutena has sent me to search for the causes of the enemies that we are facing at the moment."

"And what are those enemies?" asked Fox. "I'll be happy to help."

"Purple people made of wired frames. They all have a visible red heart in their chest and for a face they simply have a gray face with two lines through them."

All of the smashers looked at each other. They all seemed to think the same thing.

If Wired Frames were attacking, then the Ring of Darkness is finally on the move…

"Okay, Pit…" said Link. "We'll tell you everything happening with us after we introduce ourselves…"

KA-BOOM!!!!

"Or…" said Jigglypuff. "After we find out what's going on."

* * *

Luigi panted, his face completely red, his temper finally lost. Peach and Toadsworth stood back, remembering Mario's words. 

_"Depending on when these news are revealed, my brother's reactions will be unpredictable. If he consults you for the past, be prepared for any reaction at all…"_

"You… You… You were my damn brother!" Luigi yelled, firing another fireball at Mario's tomb. "My older brother! My teacher! My idol! I looked up to you! I loved you! And what the fuck do I get in return? Just a crapload of fucking shit that you spat on!! I FUCKING HATE YOU! HATE YOU!!!!"

The tombstone fell back, revealing a patch of dirt below. Luigi, like an insane madman, fired a thunderbolt at where the tombstone once stood, causing another explosion.

KABOOM!

"Care for your loved ones? Sacrifice all you've got for who you love? You told me this, yet you didn't give a fucking shit in that damn prison! Don't take a step back?" Luigi stepped backwards, as if insulting Mario's honor. "Look at you! You took a step back when deciding to save me or not! Give it your all? YOU GAVE NOTHING TO BEAT THAT KOOPA!!!"

Peach ran up to Luigi, finally gathering her sense. "Luigi! Put yourself together!" she cried, grabbing Luigi's arms. He threw her back, causing her body to crash into Toadsworth, and breaking a fence behind them. Luigi looked back briefly, then without caring, he looked back at the tombstone, continuing his onslaught.

"Why didn't you tell me anything? ANYTHING???? I Hate you!!! I. HATE. YOU. Huh? Say something! SAY SOMETHING, GOD DAMN IT!!!!"

Luigi waited as if to wait for the tombstone to speak. He finally lost himself and threw a fist into the tombstone. As with his battle with Alex, an invisible flaming fist struck the tombstone, knocking it into the air and shattering it into pieces.

"I HATE YOU!!!!!! I FUCKING HATE HATE HATE YOU YOU!!!!** DIE!!!!!**"

He fired several more punches into the air, destroying every single bit of the tombstone. There was no trace of it left in the graveyard, yet he still couldn't hold himself. Finally, he fell to the ground, crying his tears out.

"Why… Why… Why… You ruined my life…"

Toadsworth had long run away in fear of Luigi's lost temper. Peach, however, stood there, watching the scene. One other person witnessed it.

Samus stood beside the window, giving a simple, emotionless expression from her suitless face.


	69. Chapter 69: The Adventure Continues

Hack: Transition Chapter! Oh yeah! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 69: The Adventure Continues**

It was the next day. The day that everyone would continue their journey. The five smashers: Fox, Jigglypuff, Luigi, Captain Falcon, and Samus were finally back together as friends and going to fight on to defeat the Ring of Darkness, which has finally begun to act.

The smashers are finally going to get a move on after two weeks of rest.

However, only Peach, Toadsworth, and Samus know of the anger of Luigi's life as a shadow. Luigi, who has been putting on a smile the rest of the day and telling everyone else that the explosions were of him training on a gravestone, is simply wearing a mask. Only these three people know of the true pain behind Luigi's face.

They were smart enough not to bring it up again, especially after what Samus just went through on the Halberd.

The smashers explained to Pit about the Ring of Darkness, not the entire adventure though (that would take days). They explained who was in it, the Endowment of Exigency, their control over the Wire Frames, and some of their known goals.

Fox held up a piece of paper and read it repeatedly. He sat on a bed in a bedroom, the last time he'll feel a bed this comfortable for weeks to come. He remembered reading it on Ness's computer long ago, but he never took too much thought in it; Ness did most of the thinking for him, and he could not crack the code.

"For those reading this, I should be long dead by now. I have committed a crime for creating the Endowment of Exigency and inflicting destruction upon the entire universe. But there may be a slight ray of hope. Nobody knows of what I have placed in it, aside from whom my hints lead to. Whoever receives this, I hope you will find this source and defeat the users of the Endowment of Exigency. Here are the hints I provide to you:

One word from each line, each line providing a separate hint.

Hidden from its sisters and brothers, significantly different from its siblings, carrying a source of light.

The ones who know of this power live in this chamber.

The power itself lies in a different world, an unknown sage, perplexing, mystifying sibling of ours.

Doctor Mario."

"What could this mean???" Fox angrily muttered, his brain exploding. "We know two of the three: the Dragons and the Pikmin. And one word from each line… That describes the location of the ingredient, I can deduce that… But what is it?"

Fox made several combinations of words in his mind, but they either didn't make sense or he never heard of them.

_Well obviously I'd never hear of it before…_

Captain Falcon suddenly snatched the piece of paper from Fox's hands. "Why try finding it out by yourself? We're a team, aren't we?"

Fox lowered his head. "Maybe…"

Falcon playfully punched Fox in the arm. "Fuck maybe! It's a definite yes! We're a team! Aren't we, Jiggs?" He put an arm around Fox's shoulder and smiled. Fox gave a nervous smile as he looked up to Jigglypuff, who was standing at the open doorway.

"Tee hee! Yep, we're a team!" she smiled cutely.

"I'm just really happy that Samus is all better and Luigi got over his brother's death," said Fox. "It's like…"

"We're all one big family," said Falcon."

"Exactly."

"So why don't we look over the last words of the doctor together?" said Jigglypuff.

"All right… But it's really confusing. I doubt you'd get it."

* * *

"So where did we decide to go?" asked Luigi.

"We're heading for either Pherae or an unknown land with Pikmin," Samus replied. "I think we're going to go to Roy's place first, since if we head for the Pikmin Land first, we'll be unprepared for the Ring of Darkness."

"We'll be facing them again… We're too weak right now. I see what you mean," said Luigi.

"Yeah, and besides, we want to stop Nergal as quick as possible from his dragon rituals."

"We're finally putting an end to their plans…"

"And Luigi… about yesterday…"

Luigi lowered his head. "I… Don't mention that."

"I'm sorry about it. I know it's hard."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about your conflicts with Adam too."

The two stood in awkward silence.

"…Thank you, Luigi, for being there for me," said Samus, hugging Luigi.

"Heh… A hugging Samus… Never thought I'd see that day."

"Shut up!"

BOOM!

Luigi was charred into the wall by a super missile, and for once it wasn't Captain Falcon.

"Looks like… you're back… to normal…" Luigi coughed.

"Damn straight."

* * *

"I have to tell you this," said Pit. "I have been sent to find helpers to ward off the Wire Frames."

"Well we're not here with the smashers the entire time," said Link (young!). "We're just joining for a while to help out. We'd really appreciate your help too."

"Hmph," Ganondorf muttered.

"He isolates himself from new people a lot, he's actually a really good… er… evil guy," explained Link.

"I understand, Link. I thank you both for your hospitality."

"Don't thank us, thank Peach since this is her castle."

"Ah, yes, I forgot."

* * *

The smashers were eating a quiet breakfast. All of the smashers present in the Mushroom Kingdom were there to see the adventurers off. This includes Fox, Jigglypuff, Luigi, Samus, Captain Falcon, Link, Ganondorf, Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi. Pit was present too.

"A toast to our new comrade, Pit!" Peach cried out. Everyone held up their glasses of wine and clanged them together, then drank to the angel commander, who calmly smiled.

"Thank you. I am sure this is what Palutena wanted, me to make friends who fight for a good cause. I hope to be of your service," said Pit.

"Come on, let's feast together!" cried Captain Falcon. "And ignore those two powerhouse guys, they love to show off their strength!"

Bowser and DK's smiles went down a little as they continued to give arm wrestling matches. After a minute, DK finally smashed Bowser's hand down (on a separate table, breaking it. NOT the dining table).

"Damn it!" Bowser growled.

"I'm too strong for you! I RAWK YOUR SOCKS!!!" DK cried.

"Come on, don't start copying that Rawk Hawk gay guy," said Falcon.

"Should you show that death wish of the doctor to anyone else?" Jigglypuff asked.

"Nah, even Ness couldn't get it and he's the smartest of all us smashers… Besides Mewtwo…" said Fox. "We'll get it later, after we're finished with Nergal."

"I'm not a supporter of procrastination…" Jigglypuff replied. "But I guess it isn't a big deal right now…"

Yoshi leaned over to Peach. "So… Did Mario want Luigi to know it?"

Peach nodded. "He took it very badly," she whispered. "But he recovered. I think he'll be fine knowing the truth." How so wrong she was.

"Ah. I remember seeing Mario as a baby bashing Kamek in the head with his hammer… Luigi trapped. It was embarrassing." Peach nodded.

Falcon leaned over to Pit. "You see that gal there?" he pointed at Samus.

"That man in the suit is a female?" Pit exclaimed in surprise. "I am shocked!"

"Yep, she's quite a hottie if you take off that suit."

"I apologize, but I'm not that type of man. I am also sure that Samus heard you."

KABOOM!

"Please don't shoot missiles over my dining table," said Peach, chuckling. She looked over to Bowser and DK, where Bowser has finally given up on trying to beat DK in strength. Ganondorf shoved Bowser to the side to give DK a try in arm wrestling.

Pit twitched painfully as he saw Captain Falcon lodged in the wall from a super missile. "…Does this occur frequently?" he asked Jigglypuff, who nodded.

"We'd be rich if we had a penny for every time that happened."

Luigi smirked. "We'd be damn poor if we get a penny for every time Samus didn't react…"

"Ha ha, yeah right!" Falcon replied.

BAM!

DK smirked as he slammed Ganondorf's hand down to the floor painfully. Ganondorf yelped in pain as he reeled his hand back.

"How did you get so strong, Donkey Kong?" asked Ganondorf. "Before, you were a little stronger, now you murder me and Bowser."

"Training, I guess," said DK.

This lit up an idea in Samus's head. "Everyone coming with me to the journey," she started. Everyone turned their heads to give her their full attention.

"Training… We need a more rigorous training schedule. We trained so much before arriving in Corneria, and yet we were still much weaker than the Ring of Darkness. Who knows if we'll meet those darn idiots again soon?"

"So you're saying we increase our training schedule in your ship…" said Luigi.

"Yeah, we have a week until we reach Pherae anyways. One week is enough to make a difference. I'm sure Link and Ganondorf will adjust, but…" Samus turned her head to Pit. "If you're coming with us, I doubt you'll stand a chance without training."

"Do not worry," said Pit. "I have no intentions to falling behind at all, any at all."

Fox smiled. "This is great! We're getting help from two familiar friends and someone new! We really appreciate your help, Pit!"

"No no, don't thank me, thank Palutena for sending me over to help you."

"Pah… too much modesty… Just say thanks!" Bowser mumbled.

* * *

The last night in Peach's Castle…

Fox stayed up all night looking over Dr. Mario's last clues again. Samus was helping before, but she gave up before midnight and went to sleep in the guestroom's comfortable beds. Luigi was simply in his room, isolating himself from everyone else. Captain Falcon was strangely not sleeping; he was taking a walk around the castle in dawn.

He looked up into the night stars, keeping a stern expression on his face.

_Fox lost Falco… Luigi lost Mario… and Samus lost Adam a while ago… All these deaths… Man, this reminds me of the time when I helped bring about my best friend's death…_

_We were in a speeding grand prix, both on the same team. To win, I told him to slow down to slow down our opponents while I sped past him. When the opponents passed him, he would speed up again from behind to catch them by surprise._

…_Bah! Whatever, dude._

_But I can't wait until I reach Pherae again… I'll be damned if Roy isn't his true self, like me. One of my best buddies, can't wait until I see him again._

"It's not like you to be thinking to yourself," said Jigglypuff out of the blue. Captain Falcon jumped a hundred feet.

"DUDE!!!" he screamed. "You scared the fucking shit out of me!"

"Hee hee!" Jigglypuff giggled. "Well seriously, it really isn't you. I thought that if you were walking around, you'd be trying to peek in on Samus or Peach."

"Nah, not in the mood."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Just not in the mood. Sorry, it's kinda personal."

"…Okay."

Meanwhile, Fox was still obsessing over the hint.

"It's definitely a location…" he muttered to himself, his eyes turning red from fatigue. "I can't tell where though! It'd be nice if it told us which world, but I only know details about Corneria… And I can't think of anything that fits those descriptions in Corneria… Damn it!"

* * *

Samus's ship was hovering directly in front of Peach's castle. The smashers that were heading off were standing in front of the ship, facing Peach, the only one remaining behind in front of her castle. Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi left the castle hours ago, already giving their farewells.

"You guys, good luck on your journey," said Peach. "None of you die! Beat the Ring of Darkness and stop their plans!"

"Ha, don't worry, my sexy princess, we'll come back for the action with me and you!"

CLANG!

Captain Falcon was on the ground, holding his forehead in pain. Peach put away her frying pan.

"And make sure you keep up the trend of blowing up the perv, Samus!"

"Don't worry," said Samus as she cocked her arm cannon. "I'll be sure to send his ass to hell."

"Violent, violent, you shouldn't be so darn violent," said Link. He ducked to avoid a super missile.

"I plan on sticking with the smashers at least until we're finished in Pherae," said Ganondorf. "I'll need to get a message from Zelda and big Link about the reconstruction plans in the Gerudo Desert. If all is going well, I can stick with you guys."

"I'm sure I'll be helping lots," said Link. "Older-me gave me tons of tools to play with."

"Huh? Like what?" asked Captain Falcon.

"That'll be a surprise… Really, you'd be surprised at how many tools I can carry. It's a plot hole, I guess…"

"Peach, we'll make sure that we all go through the training schedules we need," said Jigglypuff. "Because we'll definitely need it."

Fox was already inside the ship, sleeping. Apparently he didn't sleep at all.

"And Luigi…" Peach walked up to Luigi, who looked up to her.

"Yeah?"

"…I know it's not very easy, but you heard your brother that he regrets it."

"…I don't know… That one incident changed my life. I already grew used to it, but… It's just the knowledge that I could have had so much more throughout my life if Mario didn't treat me like that…"

Peach kissed Luigi on his large nose. "Well still, please forgive him."

Luigi closed his eyes briefly. "…I'll try."

"Okay. Take it easy, Luigi! I have to watch over you now that Mario's gone."

"Right…"

"Pit?" Peach called the angel over, who wasn't talking at all.

"Yes, Princess Peach?"

"Please, just Peach. Well I know the group you're agreeing to travel with is rowdy, but they're all really nice, even if you see Samus blowing up Captain Falcon all day."

"I noticed," Pit replied with a smirk.

"Well if you don't think you can handle the training, then by all means leave. We don't want to force you into this."

"It is my duty. I have orders from my goddess Palutena to aid you all, so I shall give all of my power to aid you."

"Great! Well take it easy, Pit!" Peach gave Pit a handshake.

"You too! It was a pleasure to meet you, Peach!"

Captain Falcon, Fox, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Samus, and three temporary newcomers, Young Link, Ganondorf, and Pit, entered Samus's ship. They all prepared themselves for a week of the most rigorous virtual training they will ever get. They all prepared themselves for the different challenges they will face in Pherae, and unknowingly they will soon enter a different medieval world. The fights will grow more intense, but our smashers will grow more powerful.

**The Adventure Continues…**


	70. Chapter 70: The Most Unimportant Event!

Hack: Wow, chapter seventy already. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish the story by chapter 100, since that's what I planned ever since I started this story. I'm pretty sure this story's not coming to a close any time soon though, so it'll definitely go past 100, or even 120! Wow. Talk about content and stuff.

As a Chapter-70 thingy, I'd like to thank everyone who has read and enjoyed this fanfic and if you guys criticized, then your comments were taken into heart. For those of you who stuck with the story for every chapter, thanks! And for those of you that asked questions in your reviews, they'll be answered… eventually in the story. It's for the SUSPENSE!!!

So yeah. Enjoy the beginning of the second big half of the story! You guys will either find the ending of this chapter very funny or very pathetic... I wouldn't know. Hopefully the first.

* * *

**Chapter 70: The Most Unimportant Event!**

"So you've prepared the route to Goldoan land of the dragons, am I correct?"

"Ha ha! Yes! Remember the trade off though! I am helping you with the dragons and you, in return, will give me some of that sacred power!"

"Yes… The Endowment of Exigency… It's the only power more powerful than Lehran's Medallion, which Nasir has promptly stolen under Mist's nose for you."

"Precisely correct, Nergal! And those enemy smashers of yours will be coming soon to Pherae. If they do not find the portal to this world, we can accomplish our mission. If they do, then that's more blood that I lust for! The power!"

"We're but such power-hungry kings, aren't we?"

"Yes, Nergal! You know I am more powerful than you, though. You only possess a teensy bit of the Endowment of Exigency. So you are done with the ritual, you just need to perform it with the Goldoan Dragons."

"Yes."

"Then here is the map. I trust that you can read it, as you are in Daien, right there. I will be seeing you soon… If the dragons don't gobble you like before!"

"Trust me, King Ashnard, they won't…"

* * *

"Samus, I knew the training on your ship would be difficult…" Pit panted, emerging from the virtual training room. "But I never imagined it'd be this intense!"

"Yeah, it's always been tough training. Are you sure you can handle it? You can leave whenever you want to, we don't want to force it onto you."

"No, I am fine. I can handle it. It is as Palutena wishes. After all, it is helping me become more powerful."

"Fox! You're done sparring with Link I suppose?" Ganondorf asked. Fox and Link emerged from another room, this time from a sparring room with an automatic refresher. You can't die in it, yet you still feel the pain and suffering in it until you leave. It was a perfect training room.

"Yeah, another easy one," said Fox.

Link was panting. "I took it easy on you… I'm saving my sweetest weapons for later."

"You mean that ball and chain? What about that Megaton hammer?"

"…Gah!!"

"Where're Luigi and Jigglypuff?" asked Pit.

"They're both preparing lunch for us at the moment," Ganondorf replied. "I am about to enter the solo training room. Samus, bring up the gravity level to thirty."

"Thirty times? I barely survived four!" Pit exclaimed.

"No offense, but my body is a lot more tougher built. I'm not saying you're weak, but your body is a lot more fragile," Ganondorf explained as he walked in. "I'll be struggling to survive in a virtual room with thirty times of gravity." He then disappeared into the blue portal.

Fox looked at Pit. "You wanna spar?" he asked.

Pit looked back in surprise. "With me?"

"Yeah. I'm itching to see how you fight. You're undoubtedly quite powerful if your goddess sent you over to help us save the Nintendo universe."

"Okay, but don't expect any mercy…"

"You too. Samus, turn off the smash realm, we'll both see how we'll do without limiting to smash moves and atmospheres."

"All right." BAM! Samus switched a lever. Pit and Fox walked into another portal.

* * *

"Where are we?" asked Pit.

"This is the Final Destination," Fox explained. "It's one of the best places to train since it's just a field with nothing."

"I see…"

"We keep fighting until one of us virtually die or forfeit."

"Virtually die?"

"Meaning if this was real life, you'd die, but in here you'd simply be teleported out, refreshed to perfect condition. This is all just virtual training."

"I see…"

"I'll see how powerful you are after we fight though! Get ready!" Fox drew his staff and dashed speedily at Pit. Caught unawares at this sudden outburst of speed, Pit felt a part of his wing snip off as he glided backwards. He drew his golden bow and prepared his hands for flexible arrow sniping.

Fox slashed again, forcing Pit backwards. He drew his blaster and instantly shot a laser at Pit, catching him off guard again. Pit grunted as he was struck in the chest, shoved backwards on the stage even further. Pit flapped his wings and flew up into the air, out of range from Fox's staff, but not from his other weapons.

Fox drew his sniper rifle and aimed. He fired accurately at Pit's body, but he used his bow to deflect the beam! Pit held his bow out and pull on the string, creating an arrow of light. He closed one eye, looking at Fox. Fox immediately jumped backwards, realizing what Pit was about to do; snipe him back! Pit readjusted his aim at the last second and fired directly behind Fox. The moment Fox jumped backwards, the arrow shot through his chest!

"Ugh!" Fox grunted as he was sent flying off his feet. He immediately stood back up, just to be struck by another arrow. Fox was sent flying off the stage and he began falling down. He drew his staff, charged one end of it, and rocketed into the air, flying back onto the stage. He was struck by a third arrow! Fox began falling again and he thrusted his staff into the side of the stage, well hidden from where Pit was at the moment.

_Really accurate… A long range guy, but what can I expect from an archer? Still, he's really good though._

"Come out, Fox!" Pit called out as he prepared another light arrow. Fox immediately flipped back onto the stage and Pit fired his arrow. Fox turned on his reflector to deflect the arrow…

BAM!

"What?" Fox's reflector broke again! Luckily, it blocked the arrow for a second. That one second was all the time Fox needed. He drew his sniper rifle and fired at the confused Pit, clipping his wing again. Pit, losing control of his flight, fell to the ground on his stomach. Fox dashed up to Pit and swung his staff.

CLANG!

Fox looked at Pit's bow, but it was no longer a bow. He was about to take a moment to see what it turned into when the two of them were suddenly ejected out of the virtual training arena.

"We've got company," Link said as he greeted Fox and Pit.

"Huh?" said Fox. "What is it?"

"More space pirates wanting revenge on Samus."

"Excuse me, but what are space pirates?" Pit asked.

"Space Pirates… a race of intelligent beings constantly improving their technology to obtain endless power. They are Samus's mortal enemies," Link explained as quickly as he could. "Come on, we have to go to the main control room!"

The three ran through the ship and arrived in the commander's control room, where Samus was sitting in a chair facing a window. She was controlling the entire ship, swerving in and out from lasers from several space pirate ships. The other smashers were standing around.

"It took you guys long enough!" Samus muttered. "We're going to go invade the mother ship to take care of those damn idiots for the last time."

"I remember them… That Omega Pirate…" said Luigi. "He was on the tough side…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I could totally own him any day if I didn't leave you guys so I can help my babe," said Captain Falcon. Jigglypuff restrained Samus from firing a missile.

"Well so you're going to drop us off at the mother ship?" asked Fox.

"Yeah, well everyone except you and me. We're the only two capable of using a ship for combat. I have an extra ship similar to your Arwing, so…"

"No, I've got my own portable Arwing that I can draw out," replied Fox. "So you want me to head out to take out the ships while you drop off the other smashers."

"Yeah."

"So where are we going to go? Which exit?" asked Jigglypuff. "There're like ten different exits on your ship…"

"Take the bottom exit. You should find ladders down," said Samus as she blasted more space pirates away. "When I flash the lights through the ship, that's the signal to jump down!" Fox ran to the back exit to board his Arwing as the other smashers climbed down a series of ladders.

"Space Pirates… They are fearsome, aren't they?" said Pit.

"I never faced them before, don't ask me," replied Ganondorf.

"By themselves, they're pretty damn lame…" said Falcon. "But man, they're technology is insane!"

Red lights flared through the room. Luigi opened the small circular door on the floor to reveal a large gray ship filled with violet Space Pirates holding guns.

"Let's go!"

Everyone jumped through. They were all immediately swarmed by the Space Pirates again. One of the space pirates looked at a sheet of paper, then pointed at Luigi.

"It's you three…" he muttered. "The ones who traped Omega Pirate at Phazon Mines…"

"So what about him?" said Jigglypuff.

"YOU WILL PAY!!!! OPEN FIRE!!!"

Every single space pirate opened fire, as the commander yelled. All smashers jumped into the air to dodge.

"Falcon! Grab my legs!" Luigi cried. Falcon nodded as he grabbed Luigi's legs, pointing his face down at the crowd while all the smashers were in the air.

"I sense a bit of Déjà vu…" Jigglypuff muttered as she charged a roll out attack, then plowed through more space pirates.

More Space Pirates began to group together behind the smashers, where Jigglypuff, Luigi, and Falcon were not wrecking havoc. Fortunately, this side of pirates was quickly taken care of.

KABOOM!

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Several space pirates screamed to their deaths as Ganondorf plowed through them with a Warlock Kick.

Several more Space Pirates were crushed to death by a huge spiked mace. It was hooked to a chain and at the opposite end of the chain was Link's hand. He reeled it back again and swung the heavy ball & chain, then tossed the mace at the remaining pirates, crushing the rest of them.

In a few seconds, every single space pirate in sight was killed by the band of smashers.

"Hey, where did Pit go?" asked Luigi.

"I remember he asked Samus if he can ride the ship with her as eyes for the back," Ganondorf answered.

"As long as he's helping, I'm fine with it!" Falcon yelled.

"Whatever, let's just get into the ship itself…" Link muttered as the five ran through a metal door to invade.

* * *

"Did they go in yet?" Fox asked Samus via the intercom on his Arwing.

"Yeah, I think they did… According to my computer that is," Samus replied as she shot down a ship of the Space Pirates. Another violet ship came flying behind, about to blow Samus up, but it didn't get the chance to as a light arrow pierced through its hull accurately.

"How's Pit doing there anyways?" Fox asked again.

"…I've been wondering why we haven't gotten a sniper in our smash crew after all this time since he's really valuable…" Samus turned back to see Pit snipe away two more ships, peaking his bow and head out through a window.

* * *

To put a long story short, the smashers met the Omega Pirate who finally escaped from his dimension in Phazon Mines. Due to the fact that Link had his Lens of Truth, there were many more smashers, and they were all more powerful, they OWNED the Omega Pirate.

So the ship went KABOOM and the smashers returned to their voyage.

THE END… of that pathetic, uninteresting, uninspiring fight and most of all, the most unimportant event! TA DAH! I hope you enjoyed!

"Wait, the story's over? What?" Samus blurted out, still firing away at a few stragglers.

…No, the most unimportant event is over, which only lasted a chapter.

"Really, the Omega Pirate was a pushover…" muttered Fox. "Especially with Link."

Exactly! That's why I summed up the entire arc in three sentences! It's filled with detail! You should be proud of me!

"I'd pay to see the readers laugh at this pathetic joke…" muttered Captain Falcon. A Ninja Turtle suddenly popped out of nowhere and kicked him in the crotch, then disappeared, just as the Red Koopa Brother long time ago nearly popped his testicles.

"OWWWWW!!!!!!"

Well that concludes the **most unimportant event**!!!


	71. Chapter 71: The Dread Isle

Hack: Whether or not you liked the ending of the previous chapter matters not, I am finally beginning the new Fire Emblem arc with more smashers! Add Roy to the crew and you've got a group of smashers that pack a punch! Enjoy the beginning of this arc!

* * *

**Chapter 71: The Dread Isle**

So the smashers trained their asses off, nobody falling behind (although Pit came close), and everyone hiding their new abilities until it becomes necessary.

The day finally came when a planet was in sight and Samus called out the smashers.

"We're finally here! After a couple weeks!" said Samus.

"Great! I hope that little guy didn't lose his touch on the gals!" said Captain Falcon.

"…I hope he did…" Fox muttered.

"I concur. He was as bad as the racer here…" Luigi agreed. "Just more subtle."

* * *

"My Lord Eliwood…" said a green haired paladin, named Lowen. "Roy is nowhere to be seen, and he has only left a note of where he has gone."

"What??" A red-haired man exclaimed, standing up from his majestic chair. He was the king of Pherae and father of Roy, they both had a striking resemblance of each other. Just think of Eliwood as an adult Roy with a crown. "What has happened? Give me the details."

"He has also taken a few companions with him, m'Lord. Namely Wolt and Lilina."

"Princess Lilina? The successor of Ostia?"

"Yes, Lord Hector's daughter."

"…Gah, if there's one thing wrong with Roy, it will most certainly be his recklessness… If he puts Lilina into any danger, an unnecessary war may start. Do you have any clues on where he has disappeared to?"

"I do not know, m'Lord."

"Hm. Well thank you for the news, Lowen, you may be excused."

Lowen, the green armored man, bowed, then left the throne room. Lord Eliwood sighed as he sat down again, his elbow on the right armchair and his head leaning on his right hand. "Roy, Roy, what am I going to do with you?"

KA-BAM!

"What in the world…?!?" Eliwood jumped out from his throne, as the entire castle shook violently.

* * *

"This isn't really the proper way to land, Samus…"

"What do you want me to do, land in the open space where anyone can harm my ship? Huh, Link?"

"Dude, m'girl, chill, babe! I'm sure nobody heard your ship slamming onto…"

KABOOM

"This is normal, Fox, is it not?"

"Don't worry, Pit, it's completely normal behavior. All these arguments and such."

"The difference here…" said Ganondorf. "Is that we're landing on a populated castle. When you landed on the Temple of Time, nobody was in it. I suspect everyone inside the castle heard the ship land on top of it."

"Who are you all?" A white horse jumped millions of feet from the ground and on top of the elegant stone medieval castle. Eliwood was riding it, holding out a large, gleaming silver sword: The Durandal.

"Roy! It's you! When the heck did you start riding a horse, though?" asked Falcon.

"You know my son, Roy?" said Eliwood.

"Wait, you're not Roy?" asked Luigi.

Eliwood shook his head. "I know who you all are now. Roy left to join a group of smashers a long time ago… You are them, are you not?"

"Yeah, we are," said Fox. "So you're the king of Pherae, I presume? I apologize for our ship landing on top of your castle, as there isn't any other convenient hidden spot to land it on."

"Maybe it would be more convenient if it didn't land so hard, as all of the inhabitants of the castle were shaken."

"Ah. My bad," said Samus. She then realized that he was a king, then began to kneel.

"No, no, don't worry about pleasantries! You are all already using informal language anyways," Eliwood joked.

"Informal language? Who are you to talk to?" said Falcon.

"Peace. You remind me of Marquess Ostia, my friend Hector. But I must ask you all, why have you come here?"

"Do you know someone named Nergal?" asked Jigglypuff.

Eliwood's handsome face suddenly turned into a frown. "Yes, unfortunately. About seventeen years ago, I faced him. He created an army of his own, morphs, soulless bodies and soldiers at his command. He was a powerful druid."

"Well can you tell us the story then? Only a quickened version…" said Link.

"Of course. With my own army at my disposal, and my friends Hector and Lyn, we broke into the Dread Isle after obtaining the legendary weapons." Eliwood held up his enormous sword. "This is my own, the Durandal, one that my ancestor has wielded. We reached Nergal and defeated him, but he had left the Dragon Gate open, leaving three dragons in our presence. Ninian, a dragon on our side, closed the gate and sent two of the dragons back in, but we faced the last one. It was a ferocious fight… More powerful than Nergal himself."

"I have bad news… Nergal's probably a lot more powerful than before," said Luigi.

"He's alive?"

"Yep, and eviler than ever."

Eliwood shook his head. "Come with me, we'll feast and I will give you guidance."

"My apologies, but we do not have time…" Pit uttered. "We are looking for Nergal to fight him, and we are also looking for one named Roy to fight with us."

"Roy… I have just received news that he has left with Wolt and Lilina without word. I suspect you will have to…" A light bulb lit up in Eliwood's head. "Of course! He saw a light in the Dread Isle and Nergal is back! It all makes sense!"

"Dread Isle? What kind of medieval BS is that?" asked Falcon. Luigi, Fox, Jigglypuff, Samus, Link, and Ganondorf punched him in the gut at the same time. "Ooooog…"

Eliwood ignored Falcon. "So you are here to seek Roy and Nergal. I suspect you'll find a clue at the Dread Isle. I am almost certain that Roy is there. Bring him back alive, and make sure Lilina is not harmed either."

"Who is Lilina?" asked Fox.

"She is a sage, the daughter of Marquess Ostia. If any harm comes to her, there may be a war between Pherae and Ostia…"

"Another war is the last thing we want…" muttered Ganondorf. "We're still repairing damages in Hyrule after all these months…"

"Don't worry," said Luigi. "We'll bring back Roy and the girl back to you. If Roy's willing to help, though, we'll be back after we stop Nergal."

"What is Nergal up to anyways?"

"He's part of an organization called the Ring of Darkness…" said Samus. "They harness the power of the Endowment of Exigency, and to produce more of it, Nergal is currently performing a ritual to summon dragons."

"Dragons? They're extinct now, at least in this world. Oh no…"

Ganondorf's eyes lit up. "They're not extinct. You mean to say that since Nergal is performing a ritual for dragons, the dragons are in a different world of a different dimension."

"You… How do you know?" asked Eliwood.

"I have a pen pal in a different world of your realm. His name is Boyd and part of a mercenary company. He told me of Goldoan Dragons living in a separate country. I'm placing my bet that Nergal is there, and Roy is trying to hunt him down."

"…Wow, I didn't expect you to be this smart," said Link.

"That's a bit rude…" muttered Pit, shaking his head.

"Hey, I have my smart moments," Ganondorf grunted.

"You are correct. The portal that leads to the other realm is in the Dread Isle, so your destination remains the same. I must ask of you to find Roy, then explain to him what's going on. He'll lead you to the correct destination. Trust me, I know my son. If you truly are the smashers, he will help you."

"What about the girl, Liliana girl thingy?" asked Captain Falcon.

"Her powers will help you, but be sure she will not be in any critical situations."

"Okay! Let's go to the Dread Isle then!" cried out Falcon.

"Wait! Do you have a map of how we can get to the Dread Isle?" asked Samus.

"I do not have a map, but I can guide you. You can take your ship and land it on top of the temple that lies on the Dread Isle." Eliwood turned and pointed his sword away from his castle. He was pointing at a distant island with a small gray building, all the way across the sea. "It will be convenient to fly there. There will be fiends, and since Nergal is back, possibly morphs as well. Be careful."

"We will," said Fox.

Pit walked up to Eliwood, looking up to him. "Thank you for all your help, your majesty."

"Please, you're smashers. I must do all I can to help you accomplish your goal."

"Thank you," said Fox as he bowed down. All the other smashers bowed down too in politeness, except Captain Falcon. Luigi hit Falcon's leg to knock him down.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Falcon bellowed.

"Bow, you idiot!"

After an hour of arguing and bidding farewells to Eliwood, the smashers entered Samus's ship and flew towards the Dread Isle…

* * *

"Here we are, at the Dread Isle…" muttered Samus as she landed on a deserted gray temple. There was absolutely nothing else outsides aside from several trees and isolated ruins.

"Well… Let's get out!" said Luigi. All of the smashers got out of Samus's ship and jumped off of the temple, landing directly in front of it. They faced three men with pale, lifeless faces. One rode on a yellow-shaded horse and wielded a bow. He had a black bandana on and held out a bow with his right hand. On his back was a long sword. The other two men also had swords, having blond hair. However, one had a buff, muscular body with a soldier's thin armor while the other wore black robes, and had a smaller, yet more nimble body. He held a thin sword to his side. The nomadic trooper was Uhai, the buff hero was Linus, and the swordmaster was Lloyd.

"These must be the morphs…" said Pit. "I can tell from their dead bodies… This is horrible… Nergal does these things?"

"Apparently so…" said Luigi. "Nothing we can do except take them out! They can't be that bad." He fired a lightning ball at Lloyd, but he suddenly disappeared! Several sonic slashes were seen throwing themselves upon Luigi unsuspectingly, giving him several large cuts on his body. He was taken out instantly, underestimating his opponent. Lloyd appeared beside Linus, giving no facial expression.

"Looks like this won't be a walk in the park then," said Fox. "Take this!" He drew his staff and dashed towards Linus. Linus waited for a moment, then swung a gargantuan axe down at Fox. Fox was too nimble for him, though. He swiftly maneuvered his body around the axe and thrusted his staff from behind.

BAM!

An arrow struck Fox from behind, knocking him out cold instantly. Uhai held his gray bow out, about to fire another arrow.

"Gah…" Jigglypuff muttered. "We'll need to fight at the same time."

"How about m'girl and I take on the fast dude since we're accurate?" Captain Falcon suggested, dodging a super missile.

"Great. Link and I will take on the buff fighter since we both have faster bodies."

"I assume that leaves the archer to me and Ganondorf?" asked Pit. Jigglypuff nodded.

FOOM!

Falcon dashed at Lloyd, who disappeared again. Several sonic sword slashes appeared again, but Falcon danced in place, barely dodging every single invisible slash. Samus scanned the area with her X-Ray visor.

"Falcon! To your right!" Samus cried. She fired at Falcon's left, seeing Lloyd there. Lloyd swiftly moved out of the way, to Captain Falcon's right. Falcon threw a fiery punch to his right, but Lloyd blocked with his seemingly weak, fragile sword.

"Huh?" said Falcon. Lloyd retracted his sword, then slashed several hundred times in place. He threw his sword forward, knocking Falcon backwards. Suddenly, blood spurted everywhere from Falcon's body.

"Damn… Ugh!" Falcon cried out.

"Hang in there!" Samus cried. "Ice Spreader!" She froze a portion of the ground, and Lloyd attempted to speed away again. His feet slipped and he fell on his back. "Now!"

Captain Falcon recovered from the assault and punched Lloyd upwards into the air. He pursued the flying swordmaster and used a short hopped flip kick, knocking him towards the wall. Finally, Captain Falcon jumped again, throwing his fiery knee into Lloyd's body, completely incinerating it.

Linus threw his axe down at Link with his left hand, who blocked with his mirror shield. Jigglypuff was behind Linus and fired an ice beam at him. Linus drew a sword with his right hand and blocked the ice beam attack, slicing through it. Using the momentum from his swing, Linus spun around and his sword met with Link's side. Link grunted as he rolled away to avoid any further damage. At the same time, Linus had his axe out, striking Jigglypuff's body as well.

"This won't work… Link, get up into the air!" Jigglypuff cried. Link obeyed and jumped above Linus.

Jigglypuff fired a flamethrower attack this time, and Linus blocked it with his axe somehow. The fire deflected from the axe head's surface, upwards… Towards Link! Link held out his mirror shield and deflected it down at Linus. Linus used his other weapon, his sword, to deflect it again, back at Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff positioned herself between the sword and the axe…

The flamethrower attack struck Linus's axe instead, and flew into Linus's face, roasting him into a crisp. Two down, one to go.

BAM!

An arrow struck the ground where Uhai's horse stood a second before. Uhai had his sword out, parrying each attack Ganondorf threw with his axe.

"I've been saving this one for a while now…" muttered Ganondorf as he had Uhai in a dreadlock with the axe in his right hand. He charged his left hand with darkness. "WARLOCK PUNCH!!!!"

Uhai jumped off of his horse, leaving the undead horse to be destroyed by the punch. He looked up at Pit who was in the air, and blocked another light arrow with his sword. He grabbed his bow and fired his own arrow. Pit moved to the side, Uhai's arrow barely snipping his wing.

Ganondorf threw his axe at Uhai again, combating him again. Suddenly, Pit came from behind. Uhai moved to the side, but it wasn't an arrow, it was a golden blade!

SLISH!

Pit swing a golden dagger into Uhai's side and in his other hand was another dagger. He threw it into Uhai's chest, destroying the morph.

"That bow is separable?" asked Ganondorf. Pit nodded as he formed his bow again.

"That's done… We'll have to go to the other world then. That's the portal?" said Samus as she carried both Fox and Luigi. She nodded her head at some sort of mirror, and it was still gleaming!

"It looks like someone went through it recently…" said Link.

"No duh!" said Falcon. They all walked through to enter the new Fire Emblem world…

* * *

"I don't know how we're going to deal with this… We'll have to help the Greil Mercenaries and also hunt down Nergal," said Roy.

"Do we have to separate ourselves to defeat Nergal then?" asked Wolt. Roy shook his head.

"I… haven't decided. For now we'll stick to Ike. It might just be me, but I have a feeling that Nergal's working with Daien…"

"I'm with you all the way, Roy," said Lilina. "Don't worry about me."


	72. Chapter 72: The Ike Mercenaries

Hack: Pretty much every chapter in this arc from this point on WILL have spoilers for Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, because this chapter starts in the last third of that game. There will be big, spoiling events (slightly altered to let the smashers fight a bit, and there will be things with Nergal as well), so if you don't want it to be spoiled… BEAT THE GAME FIRST then read! Thank you.

NintendoGeek, remember your question in chapter 69? It will be answered in the final fight of this arc.

This might be a bit of a _boring_ chapter because it's more of an introduction chapter, especially for those who never played the Fire Emblem game. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 72: The Ike Mercenaries**

Luigi fell from the portal in the air, landing on soil. He stood up, dusting himself off as he looked up. Before he caught any more detail of the mountain he saw, however, Captain Falcon fell on top of him, followed by Ganondorf, Link, Samus, Fox, Pit, and Jigglypuff.

"Do you mind? I said the next time this happened…" Luigi grunted, then he blasted everyone off of himself. "…I will destroy the person who lands on me first!"

Everyone stood up, eyes widened. Then they all pointed at Captain Falcon.

"Who, me?" he said, but his face met with a lightning bolt and a super missile. "YEOW!!!"

"Why'd you do that, Samus?" asked Fox.

Samus shrugged. "It was just fun for me," she said. "But we have to see where we are."

Everyone looked around. They were on the side of a mountain, directly below one of the many steep hills of the mountain. Dirt paths zigzagged their way up the hill in front of them. Many wooden platforms were raised on various spots on the hill, and on top of these platforms was a large boulder. Behind each boulder was a black soldier, and at the very top of the hill stood more soldiers and a blond black-armored man riding a black dragon!

"Wait, that isn't a dragon…" said Ganondorf. "That's a wyvern!"

"Darn, just when we thought we landed near Nergal…" Link muttered.

"Things can't be that easy for us, can it?" said Jigglypuff.

"True…"

At the bottom of the hill, directly in front of the smashers, stood even more soldiers! However, these soldiers didn't seem very organized. They were much more diverse; there were many females, weaponless mages, cavaliers, archers, and Pegasus knights! Wow!

"Do you think a battle's going to start soon?" asked Pit.

"No doubt about it. I'd say the guys in front of us are on the good side though, you can just tell from their looks," said Fox.

"Should we help?" asked Jigglypuff.

"We shouldn't bother them with introductions of ourselves," replied Link. "I have a feeling that they can handle it on their own…"

"They are on our side," said Ganondorf.

"How do you know?" asked Luigi.

"Because I know one of them… Boyd! Yo!" Ganondorf called out. A muscular teenage boy with black vertical spiky hair turned around, holding an enormous axe. He wore almost no armor at all. On his back was a quiver and a steel bow, and puffs of white hair surrounded his soldiers. A Warrior.

"Is it… Ganondorf!" Boyd called out. "How you've been?"

A blue-haired boy about the same age turned around. He wore several belts around him and silver gauntlets. He held a large sword by his side, the Regal Sword, and his blue eyes looked at the new group. "Boyd, you know these people?"

"My pen pal," said Boyd.

"Well we don't have time for pleasantries. We have to climb up the hill!" the man called out. It was then that he noticed the boulders. "…Boulders? A little cliché?"

A black-haired boy came up to Ike. His body was more fragile, and he hid it with a large black cloak. He had a strange green symbol on his head, and his face never showed happiness, only depression. "I admit, a simple plan, but it will work nonetheless. The enemies seem to have the advantage this time…"

"Right, Soren," said the blue-haired commander. "I doubt cavaliers would be able to climb up, so you guys will have to sit out. That includes Titania and Oscar. Soren, I guess we'll need many healers to deal with injuries from the traps?"

"Yes," said Soren, the black-cloaked sage. "I assume we should start now, right, commander Ike?"

Ike smiled. "Right you are." He turned around to the smashers. "It matters not if you get yourselves involved, but if you do, be sure to help us out. We have no time for introductions right now."

One of the black soldiers began the battle by shoving a boulder down. It rampaged down the hill, kicking up dirty soil and roaring as it tumbled down, threatening to flatten anyone in the way.

The commander of the enemy forces, Gromell, looked down from the top of the hill, sitting atop his black wyvern. "Guard the hill! Do not let the Crimeans pass at all!" he cried, holding his Bolt Axe above his head.

What used to be a standoff immediately transitioned into chaos. All of Ike and his units ran up the hill, zigzagging through rolling boulders. Black spearmen and warriors ran down the hill, charging at all of the good guys.

"Do you think we should help?" Jigglypuff asked the smashers as they all watched the scene.

"…Nah, they'll handle it," Fox replied as he stepped to the side to avoid a stray boulder.

Within ten minutes, the army had already reached the very top of the hill with few injuries. Dead soldiers with black armor were scattered everywhere on the slopes, and Ike was already dueling with Gromell, the enemy commander.

"Bwah ha ha! I am powerful! You cannot beat me! Mwah ha ha! I am the boss!" Gromell yelled as he threw his Bolt Axe at Ike. Ike sighed as he simply side stepped to dodge it, then threw his sword into Gromell's chest.

"Noooooooo, I can't die like this! How dare you! You are just a bunch of mercenaries!" Gromell then died on his wyvern.

And yes, this is pretty much what ninety percent of all bosses in Fire Emblem games say when you first fight them, then their death quote. I'm serious.

"…Roy's bosses can't be as easy as these…" muttered Luigi. "Even easier than Link's bosses…"

"What about me?" asked Link.

"Samus, Zelda, and I encountered many large bosses that you and your older self fought while we walked to the Gerudo Desert a long time ago. They were real wusses…"

"Oh. Yeah, most of my recent adventures aren't too much of a challenge, combat-wise. It's the puzzles you gotta watch out for…"

After a few more pathetic minutes of the Greil Mercenaries killing the remainder of their enemies (yeah, I'm being really lazy right now), the smashers met up with Ike again.

"So, what are you here for? Signing up to join our army?" asked Ike.

"Er no…" said Fox. "Sorry, but we'd like to help you guys out, it's just that we're busy with other things."

"Do you know who Nergal is by any chance?" asked Link.

Ike shook his head. "I don't know who you're talking about."

"Then do you know someone named Roy?"

Ike's eyes lit up. "Yes, I do actually! He came here two days ago out of nowhere and decided to help our group in search for a man. He is not part of the mercenaries, but he decided to help our forces. He is aiding Tibarn and his laguz in their assault on the other forts as we approach Crimea."

"Excuse me…" said Luigi. "But I have no idea what's going on around here. Do you mind explaining?"

Ike's mercenaries began to move out, climbing up the hill, but Ike stayed. "I'll explain later, just follow us if you want to know."

"We've got them!"

On a steep hill directly above the army of about thirty and the smashers, four more red-clothed soldiers of Daien stood on top of it, their arms about to push more boulders.

"Roll!!!" The center soldier cried. There was a sudden loud screeching noise, and everyone looked up to see a brown hawk dive down out of nowhere.

"Look out! Duck!" Samus cried as she and the smashers took cover. However, the large hawk flew directly over them and smashed through all of the Daien soldiers, his beak piercing through their armor and their organs and killing all of them. The hawk landed behind the boulders and held its large wings out, then transformed into some sort of half-human half-hawk (looked like a human with hawk wings).

"Tibarn!" Ike cried out. "Excellent timing!"

"I hope I was not too late," the half-hawk said.

"What the… he has wings! What the heck?" Captain Falcon yelled out.

"Hey, Pit has wings too," Fox replied, pointing at Pit.

"Oh, right."

"Ike, who are they?" Tibarn asked the blue-haired commander. "They look abnormal, they do not look like either beorc or laguz."

"Oh, right," Ike replied. "We'll meet in a base up the mountain. Come follow me. Tibarn, you've got your laguz troops, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"We'll be staying in it for a while. You can tell me why you're here and things like that."

"Ike!" A green-haired woman dressed in an orange dress ran to the group.

"Elincia! How're the healers? Nobody suffered any big wounds?"

Elincia nodded. "Yes. The army is in perfect condition, we may move on to rest for a short time."

"Excellent."

Ike explained the army's current condition and what was currently going on.

* * *

Prepare for a quick, boring history lesson about the game! Yay! 

Ike and his mercenaries found an unconscious princess on one normal mission, which started their entire war. The Princess Elincia was a princess trying to regain her country of Crimea, which is currently in a war against the enemy nation, Daien. The king of Daien is King Ashnard, the main enemy, and he is currently after the Lehran's Medallion, which he has successfully stolen from Ike's little sister, Mist. The Medallion has a dark beast hidden inside of it and can endanger the world when released. Ashnard's intentions are to release the beast and obtain the hidden power inside of it. He has retreated to the Crimean castle, and Ike and his army is pursuing him, heading for Crimea. Ike has also allied with nations of laguz, half-beast half-men that can transform into beasts at will for battle. His army is becoming more and more of a powerful force, defeating all obstacles that Ashnard throws at them.

"…And that's all you need to know in a nutshell," said Ike, sitting at a wooden table in a small camp set up for the night.

"You've got lots going on right now," said Fox. "So you know where Roy is, right?"

Ike nodded. "He should be around very soon. He was looking for someone named Nergal as well. Anyways, we'd be happy if you joined us, even for a day or two."

The smashers looked at each other.

"Should we discuss our next actions?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I honestly believe we should right now," Pit replied.

"There are two places that Nergal can be in right now," said Luigi. "With Ashnard of Daien in Crimea, or in an area with dragons."

"You're talking about the Goldoan laguz, right?" said Ike.

Ganondorf nodded. "They do count as dragons, right?"

"I believe so," said Pit.

"Those are the only dragons existent in these lands," said Ike.

"Right, so if Nergal came over here, then he must be here for the Goldoan dragons. He might also be affiliated with Ashnard as well, so there're two places we have to hit at the same time," said Fox.

"Two places?" asked Link.

Ganondorf lit up his dark eyes. "I see. You know that Nergal will not be a problem to defeat…"

"Because we're capable of matching up with those much stronger than Nergal," said Fox.

"Exactly. Since our numbers are strong, we can send two or three of us to where the Dragons are, since that's where he most likely will be hiding," explained Ganondorf. "And in the unlikely event that he's with the Daien King, the rest of us will be there. If he is performing his ritual with the dragons, however, then we might as well kill two birds with one stone and help Ike with the Daien King."

"Hey, someone's missing…" Captain Falcon muttered, looking around. "Where did that green plumber go? I didn't hear him talk for a long time."

"Right here." Luigi emerged out from the shadows out of nowhere, standing beside the table with all the smashers and Ike sitting at it. "I heard everything, don't worry about it."

"Hiding in the shadows? That's not like you at all, dude," said Falcon. "That's more like me… Literally!"

"Right. Carry on."

"So how are we going to be separated?" asked Pit. "We will only travel in small numbers for the area with the dragons."

"I'm… not sure yet," said Fox. "We need to have our groups evenly distributed…"

"No, I don't think we will, just the small group will need to be varying," said Ganondorf. "Because the larger group will be working with the Ike Mercenaries. Where is he by the way?"

"I suppose he went out, thinking that we can discuss these matters by ourselves right now," Jigglypuff replied. "It won't take too long either."

"Right. What kind of soldiers does the mercenaries have?" asked Fox.

"They have pretty much all kind of units you can think of," Ganondorf replied. "Swordsmen, Axemen, Cavaliers, Mages, Archers, Healers, everything."

"So Pit, you'll be heading out for the dragons," said Link.

"Excuse me?" said Pit.

"You're our best long range smasher, you definitely have pro sniping skills, better than me or Fox," said Samus. "I saw you out there shooting down various ships without missing at all."

"Well yes… I'm flattered…"

"Where do the dragons hail from anyways?" asked Fox. Everyone looked at Ganondorf.

"…They are the Goldoan Dragons, but I do not know where Goldoa is. You will have to ask Ike about it, or one of the laguz. I believe we'll have to cross the sea, though."

"Cross the sea… Just take Samus and her ship along then!" said Falcon. "It's the fastest way to go, baby! Take me along too, just the two of us!"

BOOM

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," said Samus, bringing her smoking arm cannon back to her side. "I think we'll want one more person though."

"I think Captain Falcon will actually fit in very nicely," said Link. "I mean, you've already got two long-range fighters, you'll need someone who can use hand-to-hand combat."

"Yeah, baby! You're with me!" cried Falcon. "Now we'll be alone!"

Fox tapped Falcon on the shoulder, and then pointed his finger at Pit.

"…Damn it!"

"I'm fine with the perv, I can take care of him easily," said Samus. "So Pit, Captain Falcon, and I are leaving… when?"

Ike came down the stairs into the small cabin. "You guys are already leaving?"

"No, only three of us. It's a planned out sort of thing," said Link. "They'll be leaving…" He looked at Fox, who shrugged.

"Tomorrow morning sounds nice," said Jigglypuff, hopping up and down on the table with glee. "We need time to get directions for Goldoa and get acquainted with this new world more…"

"Okay, so tomorrow morning, the three of you will leave while the rest of us will remain here with Ike's mercenaries," said Ganondorf. "Get directions from him right now, and get plenty of rest. Tomorrow will be the start of a new journey."


	73. Chapter 73: Story Anniversary! Roy too

Hack: It is the GRAND ANIVERSARY of the story (May 16th), and you know what that means! Yep, there'll be an extra special at the end of this chapter just for pure humor… Actually, not pure humor, but interesting humor and foreshadowing. Well enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 73: Story Anniversary! Roy too  
**

"Get off of me and go to sleep."

"But I don't need any sleep! I need you!"

"Get off right now, you pervert! You need your rest!"

"Hell no!"

"On the count of three…"

"Come on, babe!"

"Three…"

"Captain Falcon, I highly recommend you stop molesting her and retreat back into the passenger's seat."

"Two…"

"Meh, It's a plot hole. I'll heal every time she shoots me."

"One…"

"It should be painful though... isn't it?"

KA-BOOM!

Samus blew Captain Falcon through the open door, sending him whizzing past the modest Pit and into the chairs, leaving him black and charred.

"I swear one day of him is enough to last me a lifetime…" Samus murmured.

Captain Falcon jumped off of the chair on the ship and sprung on his legs, holding his arms out in a victorious sign. "Plot hole! Completely cured! I love the author!"

"I see no way of how that is possible…" Pit shook his head.

"Pit, knock him out on the head please," said Samus.

"Wait, wha…" Captain Falcon muttered before Pit knocked him out with his bow.

"It is done."

"Thanks."

They were flying in Samus's ship above nothing but rocks and sea. Occasionally they would fly above various ships, but because Ike warned them to keep 'unfamiliar' tools out of sight, Samus flew the ship in the clouds. She just prayed that she wouldn't see any winged laguz on the way; another unnecessary encounter was the last thing she needed.

"How much time will we be traveling, Samus?" Pit asked.

"Ike's mage partner Soren calculated our ship's speed and the distance… He told me that it will take one full day of casual flying."

Pit sighed. "I might as well rest a bit. Keep an eye out and wake me up if we are attacked, Samus."

"Don't worry, I won't hesitate to see you use your skills again."

Captain Falcon instantly woke up and looked out the right window. "No need to sleep, man, we're getting attacked right now."

Samus and Pit looked to their right and saw several flying black hawks gliding alongside them, ready to assault them. "Well... You know what to do, Pit," said Samus.

Pit drew his bow as Samus unlocked the top capsule opening. "Just fly safely, please." He then began flying up through the opening in the ceiling and stuck half of his body out of it, ready to fire away.

* * *

"Fox!" Ike called out to Fox as the furry animal yawned, walking in the midst of the camp. 

"What is it? Samus, Pit, and Captain Falcon left already, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"And we're heading out soon."

"Yeah, but I believe you know who this is." Ike held his arm behind and seemed to scoop out a red-haired man out of thin air.

Fox let out a gasp. "Roy! It's you! I have to get everyone… else…" It was then that he noticed the various cuts and bruises on Roy's body. "Crap…"

"Yeah, we applied all of our healing staves on him, and we've done the best we could. He should heal in a few days, but…"

"Oh my god, Roy!" Jigglypuff cried out as she came out from a tent. "What happened?"

"It was a man in black armor…" A green haired archer came into view, about the same age as Roy. A teenage girl with long, blue hair also came into view, wearing red robes around herself and carrying a tome book.

"The Black Knight…" Ike muttered.

"Who is this black knight?" asked Fox as Jigglypuff ran off to get the other smashers.

"He… He murdered my father to get after the Lehran's Medallion," said Ike. "He also has one of the heron laguz in captivity, which is not good. She has the power to call out the demon in it."

"Your father… killed… That's a little bit like what happened to mine, or from what I heard."

"What happened?"

"You might be a bit overwhelmed because we use ships in outer space…"

"Hey, if you're existing right here, then ships in space exists too. I believe you," said Ike.

"Okay, well my father went out in a small team: him and two others, Peppy and Pigma. They were sent on a mission to destroy Andross, who was threatening our universe."

"Ah…"

"But one day Andross convinced Pigma with money to come join his side. Then Pigma betrayed Peppy and my father and led them to Andross, almost killing them. Peppy escaped, but my father… I don't know what happened to him. I think he's dead, though."

"…I'm sorry to hear that, Fox…"

Fox shook his head. "It's nothing. I've been over it for a while."

_Unlike something else with my best friend… That thought still haunts me all the time._

"You're lucky. I can't get over my father's death. It's difficult hiding it sometimes, especially since my sister Mist can read me like a book. But I have to take over his place as the leader of the Greil Mercenaries."

"And you've made quite some progress."

"Thanks!"

The rest of the smashers came out from tents and gathered around Roy.

"Who are you two?" asked Link. "Are you both with Roy?"

The archer replied, "Yes. My name is Wolt and this is Lilina, the daughter of Marquess Ostia."

"Please explain what happened," said Ike.

"We were venturing out towards the Crimean castle as spies, then we were suddenly assaulted by a paladin in brown armor…"

"Roy took a blow immediately, because we were caught off guard. We saw him take out Roy in an instant before we knew what had happened. We grabbed Roy and fled…" Lilina explained.

"Roy is safe in our hands, thank you for bringing him back alive," said Ike.

"Wait… Where's Captain Falcon?" asked Luigi. "He'd love to see his perv partner back."

"He's already with Samus," Ganondorf replied.

"Oh yeah. Samus is going to have tons of fun. So who is this guy?"

Ike took a deep breath. "That… must be Bertram, according to our spies. He is taking command of the next battle on Daien's side against us. He is as strong there with Petrine, whom we took out, and the Black Knight. The Black Knight… He killed my father, the one I looked up to. He lead our mercenaries to great success, and nobody is as good of a fighter as him. I lost a permanent part of myself… When he was lost. I looked up to him all the time, and then… he was gone."

"Don't worry, Ike, everyone goes through losses. It's hard," said Jigglypuff.

"What's the point?" Luigi blurted out. "I mean, having an idol will just cause more pain for you and break you apart even more. They are never what you think they will be."

Everyone looked at Luigi like he was crazy.

"What? Of course my father was the best leader of all! What in the world are you thinking?" Ike yelled, shaken by this comment.

"Luigi, what's gotten into you?" asked Fox, also shaken from the comment.

Luigi shook his head. "…never mind."

"…Ignoring that," said Ike. "We're almost finished with preparations, and we are about to move out towards the Crimean Castle. Soren!"

The black mage came out of nowhere again, right beside Ike. "Yes, Ike?"

"Organize the troops in the usual fashion that best suites the style of our new enemy, Bertram."

"Our spies already came back… In an hour at this pace we'll reach a large clearing in front of a fort. Our enemies will be set up into classes. There are a few Wyvern Riders as well, so archers and mages are a must. We want our generals supported by a healer and an indirect attacker to move out through the west because of the various sword masters down there, and up north are several paladins." Soren continued to explain the set-up to Ike.

"Geez, have you ever been a commander in war?" asked Fox. Both Link and Ganondorf raised their hands.

"Ah, right, you were commanders of the rebels and the Gerudos…" said Jigglypuff.

"Trust me, it's not easy stuff…" muttered Link. "It's a lot more work than you'd think."

After another ten minutes, the camp was continuously on the move on its boring, dull path.

Roy opened his eyes and sat up abruptly, almost scaring Jigglypuff to death, who was in the same cabin.

"GAH!" Jigglypuff cried, almost fainting.

"…Man… what happened?" said Roy, holding his head. "I remember getting stabbed in the back by a guy named… Bertram… Another paladin commander." He just noticed Jigglypuff. "Jiggs! It's you!" he cried. "Why are you here?"

"I think we have the same goals right now," she replied.

"…Mind explaining?"

Jigglypuff sighed. "…Another time to tell the entire story again…"

"What story?"

"We're here to hunt down Nergal like you, and…"

* * *

"…So Captain Falcon's not here then?" Roy asked with a disappointing tone after hearing Jigglypuff's account. The rest of the smashers filed in on Roy at random times, telling him how nice it was to finally see him awake. 

"He's with Samus and Pit right now, heading for the one location that Nergal is most likely to be right now," said Link, one of Roy's good friends.

"Him with the hot chick? Wow, things are gonna go outta control… Wait, Wolf and Lilina, where are they?" he asked.

"They're with other soldiers right now," Link replied as Jigglypuff continued to sleep in the moving cart. "They'll be safe. What happened with the dude that knocked you out?"

"Oh, that guy? I think his name was Bertram, and he was on a horse, a paladin. But to sneak up on me without giving off any hints, he's got to have tons of skills."

"Well you're in luck," said Fox. "Ike informed us that Bertram's the commander of the next battalion of troops that we're approaching right now."

"What? I'd like to face that coward one on one right there!" Roy angrily muttered.

"Then hopefully you'll have a shot at him."

Luigi popped into the tent. "We're here! And it doesn't look like the Daiens want to give us a warm welcome!"

* * *

The smashers were standing directly behind Ike and in front of the rest of the army. They looked at the landscape around themselves and saw groups of soldiers grouped together into classes, as Soren had informed Ike. His army was already in formation, ready to move out. 

"This shouldn't be too hard," said Link.

"Don't underestimate soldiers too much, though," said Ganondorf. "You may regret it."

"You guys, just do as you feel that can help out," said Ike. "I saw what you guys are capable of when I saw some of you training. Just don't get yourselves killed."

"Don't worry, we won't," said Roy.

"All right, mercenaries, move out!" Ike cried out.

"Too late…" Boyd pointed out as all the smashers had long before moved out and began to wreck havoc on any soldiers far away.

* * *

Special Anniversary Bad Guy Section!

"Why is the camera on us?" asked Metaknight. "It is supposedly tradition to conceal our plans…"

"Well, Metaknight, you kinda revealed them when you talked to the foxy punk after beating him down, when you said that you'll fight to the death in the Dream Den," said Wolf. "A bit of a waste of damn suspense…"

"I'd say more suspense," said Black Shadow. "So… There isn't really anything to do right now, you know. What are you up to, Wolf?"

"Oh, me? Just playing some damn DS game called Starfox Command. They need a game named after me, damn it!"

Metaknight looked over Wolf's shoulder. "Well, well… So you're Wolf right now, I see."

"That's right, punk. What do you have against it?"

"…How cute, you're shooting down an enemy that's firing at Krystal."

Wolf blushed. "Shut up! At least Panther is gone now!"

Alex appeared in the room from the various puddles on the ground. "Awwww, little Wolf is infatuated with the vixen… You do know she's pregnant by Fox, right?"

"WHAAAAAT??? I'M GOING TO KILL THAT DAMN PUP!!!"

"Too bad, he's mine," said Metaknight.

"…I fucking hate you, you know that?"

"Oh really? Try me."

Wolf jumped at Metaknight and they both got into an anime-like dust-cloud fight, where you see a random body part or face poke out of the dust cloud every now and then, and the pattern repeats every second.

"So now moving away from that topic…" started Black Shadow, ignoring the two other fighting. "The heroes think that you're dead, Alex."

"Peh! Right, whatever! We all know that I'm too pretty for me to die."

"So this is the true Alex, the one that the readers have never seen because all bad guys must be oh-so-dramatic, dark, and evil… Is this why you grew your hair out?"

"I guess. It is to attract a certain someone back in Weyard…"

"You're reminding me of a certain bitch I fight, you know!" Wolf cried out from the dust cloud briefly before returning to brawling with Metaknight.

"Alex… Please don't get into that topic," Black Shadow muttered, his head on his palm.

"Oh please! I'm beautiful enough for the both of us! You need a love life, Black Shadow."

"As I quote from Mewtwo, I do not depend on others to survive."

"You clearly have never gone through puberty, then."

"Excuse me?" Black Shadow glared at Alex. "Is that an insult?"

"You are never attracted to females."

"That is who I am. And I clearly have a lower voice, higher height, enlarged muscles, and longer penis. It is about eight inches long, as far as I recall."

Metaknight and Wolf instantly stopped fighting.

"…We did not need to know that information, Black Shadow!" the three others yelled before jumping him.

"GAH!"

"…What is that smell?" asked Metaknight as he held Black Shadow by the collar.

"Alex! You put cologne on yourself! And your shampoo… smells?" said Wolf.

Alex nodded. "Yes. I buy several different brands for hair and smell, research on all their effects, and combine them appropriately with only certain sections to create the ultimate hair shampoo and cologne."

"Obsession too much?" said Metaknight.

"I concur," said Black Shadow. "How often do you groom yourself, Alex?"

"Normally I spend an hour grooming myself, then wait an hour for it to dry, then spend another hour grooming myself, then repeat."

"Yes, too damn obsessed," said Wolf.

"Well my hair is pretty enough, while your entire body is covered in hair. I'm sure I'm a lot more better-looking you know."

"That's because I'm a wolf, punk! Hence my name! I don't plan on being attractive to humans!"

"...Do you shower, Wolf?" asked Metaknight, beginning to wave his sword in front of him to waff a smell away.

"No, and I am fucking proud of it!"

Silence…

"I don't think I ever want to fight with you again," said Metaknight, now backing away. "In fact, I think I will leave." He wrapped his cloak around himself and it disappeared.

I mean the cloak disappeared along with the mask. A blue Kirby was standing there.

"…What… Look away! I messed up! Where is my cloak?" The unmasked Metaknight cried as Black Shadow snickered.

"Right here," Black Shadow said, holding it all the way up.

"Lower it down here so I can grab it and leave," said the unmasked Metaknight. Black Shadow lowered his hand, then milliseconds before Metaknight grabbed it, Black Shadow raised it above his own head again.

"Too late!"

"Stop playing around!" Metaknight yelled as he drew his sword.

"Whoa, there is no need for a fight here!" Wolf cried, standing between the two.

"You were just in a fight with Metaknight," said Alex.

Wolf blushed. "I mean a serious fight, you punk…"

So it seems like our bad guys have a fun side to themselves as well!

"What? Why are you here?" Metaknight yelled, hiding his face. "Get out of here! You are not allowed to see our plans!"

Hey, I'm the author! I know everything!

"You bastard, you're showing the readers our plans, damn it!" Wolf yelled as well.

You're not really revealing any plans, just arguing and socializing.

"He has a point," said Black Shadow.

"…Right. I'm off to groom my hair."

"…" Everyone else stood there with a blank expression.

"...I mean head for Weyard as the boss requested."

"...Right, while we all head for the Pikmin world..." said Metaknight. "Be sure to not let the smashers know about you still living, Alex."

"Argh! You're still here!" Wolf yelled. "Now all the damn readers know about us and our plans!"

Thank you very much.


	74. Chapter 74: Improved Powers

Hack: Big action chapter here after a severe drought of them; Hopefully you'll all be satisfied with the fun action in it! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 74: Improved Powers**

"_Earthquake!_" Jigglypuff cried as she slammed the ground with her pudgy fist. The ground shook like a godly tremor, causing the ten the soldiers nearby to fall on the ground face-first. The earth continued to throw them upwards, bouncing them up and down, the force of the earth cracking every bone colliding with it. Jigglypuff held her arms out and followed it up with an, "_Ice Beam!_" All of the soldiers immediately froze on the spot, finishing off a small section of the enemy troops.

"What kind of powers do they have???" Ike cried as he saw Jigglypuff use her freezing attack.

"Ike, their powers are on our side. Be grateful for that," said Soren, his mage tactician, as he fainted one armored man with a lightning bolt.

About ten swift, sword-wielding myrmidons were dashing towards Fox, who had his staff in his hand and a blaster in the other. He was standing back to back with Link, who also had his Great Fairy's Sword drawn and ready to fight.

"Ready, Fox? Let's see how much you've grown all this time," said Link. Fox simply gave a nod as the myrmidons jumped at them, who are now surrounded.

Link held up his sword horizontally, blocking the two myrmidons who jumped at him. While keeping them locked in position with his sword, he saw another myrmidon take a swing at his side. Link grabbed his shield with his right hand and held it out, blocking the third swing. He then forced all three attackers off of him and grabbed his bow. He closed one eye, then shot three quick shots, each striking each of the three myrmidons in the head. HEAD SHOT, BABY!

Fox grinned as he held his staff out. _Time to test how much I mastered this…_

"Level Two…" he muttered as the five myrmidons jumped at him with their swords poised, each aimed at him from every direction. "_Brave Form!!!_"

CLANG!

Fox blocked every single sword with two staffs, then he quickly sheathed the staff in his right hand on the backpack in his back and drew a large sniper rifle. He swung his left staff around, blowing the swordsmen away, and aimed at them with his sniper rifle, operating it with only one hand.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Each red laser shot flew straight and true, beheading all five myrmidons in an instant. Link glared at him in awe.

"How the hell do you use that rifle with only one hand?" Link asked, still staring at Fox's right hand which is fluently and steadily holding the long, yet heavy rifle.

Fox looked at himself, now covered in his new red clothes. "I… It looks like…"

"Bi-dextral?"

Fox nodded. "Only explanation I can think of. I also feel a lot steadier and stronger in my arms…"

"Hold! More are still coming!" Link yelled as more swordsmen came around, surrounding them again.

"Psh, they won't be much of a problem," said Fox as he drew his other staff out again.

KA-BOOM!

All of the swordsmen were blown away in one blow by an invisible force. Luigi was standing to the side with his open palm out, wearing his silver, glowing gloves.

"Luigi! That was mine!" Fox and Link yelled at Luigi while fighting off more soldiers casually.

"Heh, sorry, just seeing how much my new training paid off," said Luigi. "And it doesn't look like enough."

"You beat Alex with that?" Link asked.

"Yeah. Not very hard, really, when I switched to my trump card."

Now we move on to another part of our smasher group.

"Ganondorf, when did you ever start using an axe?" asked Roy.

"I've been training my upper body strength and found axes to be more suitable for me than my broadsword," said Ganondorf, swinging his huge, metal axe around and blowing away several different soldiers around. Roy did absolutely no work, as Ganondorf was killing everyone nearby, and Roy was simply crouching to avoid the gargantuan axe.

"Mind if you save some for me?" asked Roy. Ganondorf simply nudged his own head in the direction of the fort, where Bertram stood. "…All right, I'll go right now. See you after I beat that coward!"

"You sure you're going to take him on, Roy?" Ike called out as he held off another soldier.

"No problem!"

A warrior was about to smash his own axe down on Ike's head, but he was immediately taken out by a flurry of green wind.

"Thank you, Soren," Ike said without looking back as he continued running forward with the other infantry in his group. He looked at the surroundings and saw several wyvern riders about to surround them and the smashers. "Surround ourselves with the front-liners! Keep archers and mages in the center for indirect attacks! Move on to the defense!"

Soon, all of the units in Ike's Mercenaries gathered together in a tight circle, all of the melee fighters forming the outside part.

Roy continued running ahead, ducking and jumping over all weapons coming his way. He finally reached the commander of the enemy, Bertram, who was mounted on top of a white horse. He wore black and gray armor, covering his entire face save for his mouth.

"Give me blood! Flesh! Come!" Bertram yelled as Roy jumped at him with his sword raised.

CLANG!

* * *

"What the heck are these?" asked Luigi as he wavedashed backwards swiftly, dodging the lance from stabbing him. "I hit the animal several times, but it won't fall!"

"Wyverns," said Ike. "The Wyvern riders are some of the most powerful units. Aiming for the rider is the best choice, but it's easier said than done."

Ganondorf swung his axe again at the wyvern, but it harmlessly clanged off of its scales. The wyvern angrily shot its head out, inches away from biting off Ganondorf's head. The rider reached out with its long lance and was about to stab Ganondorf in the head when the Gerudo King swung his left arm out, breaking off the tip of it. He spun around in a circle, using the extra momentum to knock away the wyvern's head (not cutting it off, just knocking it out of the way), then he threw his axe at the rider, killing him in an instant.

"It's not that they're powerful by themselves," said Fox as he took out another wyvern rider. "It's just that they're a lot damn harder to take out when there's so many." He turned around to block another lance poking at him, then without looking back, he used his second staff to block another lance. He swung his staffs upwards, knocking the lances away, then jumped into the air, charging both staffs.

"Double Quake!" Fox yelled as he slammed both staffs into the ground. It knocked away nearby infantry, but the wyvern riders took off into the skies, avoiding the large quake. The twenty or so wyvern riders put away their lances and grabbed bows.

"What? When did wyvern riders start wielding bows?" asked Soren, backing away behind the front-liners and preparing a wind spell. "Ike! Get the generals in the front!"

"Right! Do as Soren says!" Ike yelled as he and a few armored men moved up to the front. "Move to the defensive! Archers, begin firing! Soren, do you think you and the other magicians can reach them with your magic?"

"I doubt we can reach them, even with bows. They're too high up in the sky. I don't know what we can do from here."

"This would be a great time to have Pit on our side instead of being with Samus and the pervert," Luigi muttered. "I'm going up into the sky! Leave it to me!" He crouched for a second, then there was an explosion where his feet were, and Luigi shot into the air like a missile.

"Damn, is that his new weapon?" asked Link. "He's got… tons of new stuff."

"Agreed," Ganondorf simply replied.

Luigi was now at the same altitude as the twenty or so wyvern riders. "Right, let's see who'll win in aerial combat," he said, smirking. He flipped in the air, swinging his leg out horizontally. An invisible electric wave of wind plowed through two of the humans on the wyverns, knocking them off and causing them to fall down a mile to the ground, about to die.

"Get your bows ready!" One of the wyvern riders cried as the remaining attackers drew steel bows out. Luigi began to lose altitude, and they all aimed slightly below him to hit him as he was about to fall.

"Not a chance, you asses," said Luigi as he kicked downwards, rocketing himself upwards again and avoiding all of the arrows. He held his arm out at an upward angle and released energy, sending himself flying down at one particular wyvern rider. The target held up his lance as Luigi let loose an invisible projectile punch, but the steel lance blocked it. However, it broke into two pieces, and Luigi was already directly in front of the soldier.

In his right hand was a new beam sword with blurs of red and violet. Sparks flew out from the edge of the new sword and the heat around it caused the heat waves to radiate from it.

SHING!

Luigi thrusted his electric and fire sword into the soldier's stomach, burning every inch of skin it touched while shooting electricity through his entire body. The soldier was instantly toasted to death and fell to the ground. Luigi kicked off of the wyvern as more arrows flew at him, but he simply swung his leg to blow away all of the arrows.

"This is going to be pretty annoying," said Luigi. "Time to end this…"

Luigi fell into the middle of the ring of wyvern riders, still in the air. He held both arms out, and then unleashed a mid-air Luigi Cyclone. With his silver gloves, all of the wyvern riders were knocked off of the wyvern riders and sent flying miles away, already killed by the force of his attack. One wyvern rider remained, and he seemed to be the leader of the squad.

"Who… who… are you?" he asked before Luigi reached his face in an instant.

"I'm your path to hell, bitch," Luigi hissed. In an instant, he swung his sword through the soldier's neck, burning off his head and sending it flying. No blood was visible, as it already dried from the heat and blocked other blood from bleeding out from the wound.

"The job is done," Luigi smirked as he fell to the ground, slowing releasing energy downwards to break his fall to the ground.

"Luigi," said Fox. "That was… insane."

"Ha, thank you," Luigi replied.

"That did not… seem right. I was actually disturbed a bit," said Ike, shuddering.

"Don't worry, just be glad he's on our side," said Jigglypuff. She looked at Luigi's eyes and suddenly her own expression switched from calm to frightened in a sudden transition.

_When did they ever turn… blood red?_

* * *

CLANG

Roy and Bertram were already in a heated sword fight, Roy's Sealed Sword clanging against Bertram's Runesword. Bertram had long ago jumped off of his horse for more mobility.

"You know that sneaking up undetected on journeying travelers… is the cowards way!" Roy cried as he swung his sword horizontally at Bertram.

CLANG

Bertram blocked with his sword and pushed the Sealed Sword away, then held it up. It began to glow with a yellow light, then he fired a yellow beam at Roy.

_No, that can't be… Nosferatu?_

Roy immediately rolled to the side, barely avoiding the light. However, the light curved around like magic, shooting at Roy from the side. Roy held up his Sealed Sword then swung it down with all his strength down at the light. He instantly destroyed it, but Bertram was already upon him from behind, about to crash his Runesword down on Roy's head.

CLANG! SHING!

"Counter!!" Roy yelled as he instantly moved into his counter stance, blocking the attack. He then swung his sword in a red arc, lightly tapping Bertram's armor. After a moment, Bertram was blown away into the fort wall, almost breaking it. His armor would also be completely burned black if it wasn't already black.

Roy ran at Bertram again, ready to finish him off. Bertram held up his sword to block Roy's sword, then used his superior strength to knock it away. Roy was completely open as he looked at his flying sword helplessly. Bertram shot the light again, and it made a direct contact with Roy's chest.

"Ugh!" Roy grunted as he felt energy sucked out from himself. He was on the ground, breathing heavily as Bertram stood up again, fully energized again.

"The Runesword… Nosferatu…" Roy muttered. "It absorbs energy… Then adds it back to… the user…"

"…" Bertram said nothing. He ran quickly at Roy and lifted it up above Roy's head. He sent it crashing down into the ground as Roy swiftly rolled out of the way. He jumped into the air to avoid the quake caused by the Runesword and looked for his own sword.

_There!_

Roy made a mad dash for his sword, but when he looked back, he saw several beams of light following him again. He instantly crouched, watching the beams fly overhead. The yellow beams then turned around and flew at Roy again. He jumped over all of them, grabbed his sword while flipping in the air, and then swung it at the beams behind him, destroying them. He saw Bertram running at him, and Roy held his sword back over his shoulder, fire swirling around it.

"Bertram, prepare yourself! My trump card!" Roy cried as he had his fully charged Sealed Sword. Bertram was directly in front of him, shooting his sword straight into Roy's stomach. Roy twitched, but he ignored the pain and the blood seeping out as he crashed his sword into Bertram.

"FLARE BLADE!" He cried, burning through Bertram's armor. The moment his sword touched Bertram, there was an enormous explosion. Roy jumped away, his arms now bleeding from his double-edged attack. However, he had accomplished his mission.

No trace of Bertram was to be seen.

Roy panted, then he fell to the ground, closing his eyes. The rest of the smashers and Ike's mercenaries came running in. Ike ran into the fort to accomplish the entire mission and the smashers surrounded Roy.

"Roy! Are you okay?" Fox asked.

"I'm… fine…" Roy gasped. "I just need… a nap… And maybe some girls… good night…" He closed his eyes, now snoring.

"Got me worried there for a second," said Link. "We'll just bring him into the fort and give him rest."

"We can all take this time to rest," said Ganondorf. "Ike finally seized the fort, so we're victorious."

Jigglypuff gave a warm smile. "That's great! But I wonder how much more we have to fight to reach Ashnard and possibly Nergal…"

* * *

"Can't you do anything about it, Samus?" Captain Falcon cried.

"I don't know, I've lost control of the hover boosters!" Samus yelled. "Those laguz got them! We can't hover anymore, we're going to fall!"

"Please calm down!" Pit cried as he shot down another bird laguz attacking the back of the ship. "I spot land nearby! We can land on it!"

"Are you sure?" asked Samus.

"Yes! I can see through the clouds! Please fall directly down from here and we will land on a canyon!"

"I trust you, Pit. Falcon, grab something to hold on to," said Samus.

"What, why babe?"

"We're going on a roller coaster ride for the next minute since we're up so high."


	75. Chapter 75: The Black Knight

Hack: After frequent writer's blocks, I'm finally back in the mood to type up chapters more! Expect more frequent updates now! At least with this story. It's difficult to think of humorous things for my Parody, so updates for that will be slow still, unfortunately. Well, enjoy this chapter!

BIG SEVENTY-FIVE, BABY! AND LOTS MORE TO GO!

* * *

**Chapter 75: The Black Knight**

Luigi was sitting on a bed in the fort, looking at his bare hands after taking off his gloves.

"What is the purpose of making these new weapons? Why am I trying to improve myself? Why am I seeking new powers? Why am I constantly trying to grow stronger?

So I can defeat more enemies?"

He looked up into the ceiling; clearly recalling what he said when he killed that last wyvern rider.

_"Who… who… are you?" he asked before Luigi reached his face in an instant._

_"I'm your path to hell, bitch," Luigi hissed. In an instant, he swung his sword through the soldier's neck, burning off his head and sending it flying._

"What the hell am I now? Who am I?" He got up off of his bed and looked into the mirror, ignoring the snoring Link and Ganondorf in the different beds of the same room.

"Just who in the world am I?" he whispered to himself as he looked at himself garbed in his usual green attire. He looked at his own figure, his legs, waist, stomach, then chest. He looked at his own arms, seeing how much stronger they are. Then he finally reached his face, and what he saw caused him to fall on his back onto the ground.

His eyes were now a bloody shade of red.

* * *

"So where to now?" asked Samus. "I have absolutely no clue where we are, so…"

"Don't worry, Samus," said Pit. "I can scout ahead by flying up above this forest."

Indeed. The smashers were just standing in the middle of a portion of the forest. By the time Pit took out the last of the flying laguz, they were already on a crash course down to the unknown island.

"Pit, can you fly up there and see where we are?"

"Okay," Pit answered. "Where is Captain Falcon?" he asked as he floated up into the air.

Samus looked around her area. "Yeah, I just noticed that I didn't blow him up in the past minute. That's pretty weird…"

"It is likely that we were separated on the fall."

"Probably. He'll be fine. So what do you see?" she asked Pit.

"I see… Wow! This is absolutely amazing! I see… gold! Dragons!"

"What? We landed in the country of Goldoan Dragons?" Samus gasped. "That's great!"

"While shooting down some laguz, I spotted a few fleeing. They must be afraid of the dragons."

"They must be really powerful… I wouldn't be surprised if Nergal was here."

"We should investigate this area then, and meet with the dragons if they are not hostile."

"Right. It'll take a while for my ship's auto-repair system to finish anyways, so we might as well do what we left to do."

"Agreed," said Pit.

* * *

"How is Roy?" Fox asked as he and Link came into the medicinal tent.

"He will be just fine," said a priest in white robes. He had red hair, and his name was Rhys. He was a Bishop of the team and one of the few mages dedicated to healing and light magic. "He apparently used an attack that severely damaged his arms and left burn marks in it."

Link shook his head. "He must've used his Flare Blade at full power, then. Man, there's no playing around with that attack, it's a double-edged sword for a reason.

Rhys held his mend stave above the unconscious Roy's chest and the stave began to glow. "I've used up this stave's power, I must head for the weapons merchant to purchase another…"

"We'll go with you," said Fox. "After all, we're pretty much a part of this army now."

"Ah, yes… Well, I can't say that I don't appreciate it because of the help you've given us…"

The three walked out of the room and outside the fort. It was the day after their fight, and they would finish resting by leaving tomorrow.

"Do you know where Ike is? I would like to speak with him," Fox politely asked to Rhys.

"He's obviously really busy since he's the commander," said Link. "He has a lot more than just give out orders in the middle of battle, if you don't know. You obviously have never led an army before."

"Really? I'm a leader of a team, but I guess an army is much different."

"Corect," said Rhys. "Ike has… many things to deal with. He is still not completely over his father's death, and he worries for his sister Mist too much. However, he must cast away those needs and focus on the army. What rations does everyone need? What weapon supplies are running low? How is the army's budget? Do we have enough to pay everyone? Are there any injuries? There is much that he must do for his mercenaries."

"I have a question, Rhys," said Fox. "Before, Ike told us that you were just a small pack of mercenaries. Now you are becoming involved in world-wide matters and becoming a well-known army. What will you do after this is all over?"

"Hm… That's a good question, Fox," Rhys replied, his eyes pondering into the sky. He suddenly gave off a huge cough.

"Hey, you okay? You should be going inside if you're this sick," Link suggested.

"No, I'm fine. I'm always sick, but I deal with it."

"Deal with it… I wonder if Luigi's dealt with Mario's death yet," said Fox.

"I… have no clue about what's going on," Link replied. "His reactions from yesterday were crazy."

"The green-hatted fighter you mean?" asked Rhys. Link nodded. "His actions and words scared most of us, even though we know that he is our ally. Sometimes, I feel that he isn't our ally though because of his behaviors…"

"Trust me, Luigi isn't like this at normal times," said Fox. "Something big must've happened besides Mario's death. I don't know what's wrong, but I plan on finding out."

"…He has strong friends," said Rhys. "He should realize that."

"Yeah, I guess…" Link muttered. "I don't know what's up with him. We were almost best friends back when all of us smashers were reunited. Now we're more distant…"

"I know what you mean, Link."

They passed by a tent when they heard a woman's voice saying, "Ike, we don't want you throwing away your life at him." The three peeked in to see Ike and a few others of his army.

"I don't plan on losing," said Ike. "The Black Knight is mine."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Fox.

"In the castle ahead lies where the Black Knight is… The murderer of Ike's father," said Soren.

A woman with red fiery hair and white armor abruptly stood up from her seat and left.

"What's up with her?" asked Fox.

"She seemed really upset, whoever she is," said Link.

"Nothing to worry about… It's because I never told anyone that he… murdered my father until now," said Ike. "A few people in here already left, really upset. I feel like I just brought something evil down upon them…"

"It is their fault," said Soren. "They are just being selfish over you hiding information from them."

"Soren! That's not the best thing to say at a time like this!" said Rhys.

"But it is the truth," said Soren.

"Stop it, please," said Ike. "Sorry about Soren, he just says what's in his mind without thinking if he'll hurt someone's feelings or not. I respect him for that, even if he goes too far…"

"Eh, well if you didn't tell us that," said Fox. "We'd have an impression that he's a bastard, but I guess he's not."

Soren ignored Fox. "But our plan is to leave tomorrow. We should stock on supplies again for our journey to the next castle. We are already in the Crimean Region, so we should expect any traps lying in wait for us by Ashnard."

Ike sighed. "Well… I'll have to consider about the Black Knight… Excuse me, please," he said as he walked out from the tent.

"…So what do you think Ike should do?" Jigglypuff asked, popping up behind the rest of the group, surprising them. Link and Fox jumped up into the ceiling, but the members of Ike's mercenaries stayed on the ground.

"This is a smasher thing, I suppose?" asked Rhys. The three smashers in the room nodded.

Link panted for air. "…man… I think he should face the Black Knight guy if he really wants to."

"It's necessary," Soren explained. "It's an obstacle that he must face to finish getting over his father's death. It is the last hurdle, and the most important to defeat his father's murderer."

"…If that's the case, I'm all for it," said Fox.

Ike finally came back in with the red-haired female paladin. "Soren, Rhys, and Titania, I decided that in the castle ahead, I will face him."

"…Okay, but if you know you can't win…" said the red-haired Titania. "Then flee. It's better to run and keep your life then die in a fight you know you can't win."

"I understand, Titania. We should all get some rest, we've got a long day tomorrow," said Ike.

* * *

TA DA! The next day already approached.

"Wake up, everyone!" Link yelled out to the smashers. All of them woke up, and some sat up. The other few were reluctant in sitting up.

"Ugh… Already?" Fox groaned. Ganondorf gave him a light, playful bash on the head and that certainly woke Fox up.

Luigi looked through the window of the room. "So we're going to leave now?" he asked, spotting several caravans and people outside.

Link nodded. "After hearing Ike's plight… and his troubles with the Black Knight…As a swordsman, I see how he feels. I can't miss out on helping him win back Crimea!"

"Don't we all…" Fox yawned loudly.

"Fox! You're still tired?" Jigglypuff asked. "Please don't tell me you've been staying up all night…"

Fox smirked, holding up the sheet of paper. "I still couldn't figure out the doctor's clues yet…" he muttered.

"That isn't too important right now… You're far too obsessed with it," said Ganondorf.

"No, just determined to figure out what it is. I know it's defining a location, and some sort of temple as well. That's the only clue I've got. It can be anywhere in the universe."

"Well whether or not you find it out here…" said Jigglypuff. "We won't be leaving to find it until we're finished here."

"…Right…" said Fox as he put the slip of paper away. "So let's go out."

The five smashers packed up their things and left the fort, finding Ike and his army outside with the tents and caravans.

"We're heading for the next castle, another step towards the castle of Crimea," said Ike.

"…The Black Knight is there, Ike," said Soren. "You should plan ahead on how to defeat him."

"If he is this powerful…" said Ganondorf. "And it is Ike's duty to defeat him, then we should sit out on this mission."

"No, you can deal with the enemy armies and the lower commanders," said Ike. "But just leave the Black Knight to me."

"Remember what Soren said yesterday night, Ike…" Jigglypuff warned. "If it seems like you can't defeat him, we'll take over."

"I don't plan to lose," Ike simply replied. "Now let's go to Nados Castle, it'll take a few days to reach it."

"Sir Knight, we have received reports from our spies that the Crimean Army is making their approach to the Nados Castle."

* * *

"Wha… What the fuck?" Captain Falcon yelled the moment he finally stirred awake. He was entrapped in complete darkness, the only thing visible were the black shackles around his wrists and ankles. He was tied up against a tombstone.

"So, Captain Falcon, we finally meet…" Nergal teleported into the darkness, smirking.

"You! You're lucky that we decided to come out to this damn place, cuz Samus, Pit, and I are gonna fucking kick your damn ass!"

"Kick my damn ass? Please, don't make claims when you are in your current situation. Now tell me all the information from your allies. It's the information or your life…"

"Forget it! I'm not gonna tell you any damn thing!" Captain Falcon snapped his finger and immediately set Nergal on fire with a Fiery Jinx attack. Falcon clutched his left hand into a fist and cried, "_Flame Wheel_, bitch!" The useful ability that Jigglypuff had taught him came into effect as he was surrounded by a ring of fire and fired it at Nergal, burning him further.

"…You… you want to play that way? _Luna!_"

"Too late!" A shadow clone appeared directly in front of Captain Falcon and blocked the attack, then a shadow fist came up from the ground and struck Nergal directly in the groin.

"UGH!!!" Nergal clutched his balls as he staggered, almost falling forward, directly in front of Captain Falcon. Falcon brought his head back and bashed it as hard as he can into Nergal's skull, cracking it with his red helmet. Before Nergal was sent flying, another shadow fist came up from the ground and struck him in the stomach, shoving him far away.

"Now to get these damn things off…" Falcon muttered as two arms came out from the floor and grabbed the shackles on his right ankle. Suddenly…

"_Silence_!" All of the shadow fists instantly disappeared and Falcon looked up to see the staggering Nergal. A transparent violent pyramid surrounded itself around Captain Falcon before it disappeared.

"Do you take me for a fool? You are defenseless now!"

"No way! _Fiery Jinx_!"

Nothing. Captain Falcon's fire and shadow attacks were now rendered useless. "Crap!"

"Do you realize your current situation now? There is no escape! You will give me information or be tortured to death! Give me one!"

Falcon shook his head. "Hell no. You can't give me that much pain. You're the current weakest in the Ring of Darkness right now for a good reason."

KER-ZAP!

"Are you calling me weak?" Nergal's hand was clutched on Falcon's neck, his eyes turning red now. The veins on his forehead were pumping with blood pressure, bulging from his skin. "Are you? I dare you to call me weak! I dare you!"

BAM!

Nergal unleashed several shadow balls and hurled all of them into Falcon's body, each engulfing him in pain and blinding him. When his vision returned, Nergal held up a remote control.

"Do you see what this is? This is the torture devise for the tombstone you are now trapped to. When activated…" He tapped one of the buttons on it. Electricity ran through the tombstone, the shackles, and into Falcon's body. Falcon screamed as the electricity neutralized all of his body parts, and his body smoked after the one second of electrocution.

"…I send over a hundred thousand volts through your body. I can also do this for more variety…"

A red fist came down from above and spikes emerged out from it. It reared back and slammed itself into Falcon's head, cracking his helmet. Blood spurted out from his eyes and into his helmet. Falcon gasped as the fist struck his stomach this time, stabbing multiple sections of his body. Then it struck his face again, this time in an uppercut. Teeth crashed through the helmet and Falcon's head almost flew off as a loud crack flew out from his neck.

"Do you like that? Get used to it, because… It is my device for torture. But for a taster, first… Here's a full minute of minimum electrocution. It will highly amuse me."

Falcon, already next to unconsciousness, began screaming again as black smoke flew out from his body. His body was constantly electrocuted for way longer than a second as Nergal sat on a shadow chair, smirking.

"Soon, all you smashers will experience this torture… For now, enjoy this electrocution." Nergal then let out an evil laugh as he watched Falcon twitch and scream in pain.


	76. Chapter 76: The Ragnell

Hack: I just realized that I forgot to finish chapter 75, or a tiny portion of it for foreshadowing. Sorry about that. I got it fixed ASAP, the same day I uploaded the chapter, so hopefully no harm done. It wasn't much important anyways.

* * *

**Chapter 76: The Ragnell**

"We're here… At Nados Castle…" said Ike as they approached another dark, huge, and black castle. "And it's there to infiltrate. The Black Knight is in there…"

"We'll be ready to help if you need it," said Fox.

"No," Link said to Fox. "Ike, you want to take him out on your own, right?"

Ike nodded. "I really appreciate your help, but I don't want it. All you need to help me with is infiltrating the castle." He turned to Roy, who was standing up again. "You're okay right now, right?"

Roy nodded. "It's really okay. It'll heal completely in a few days, as long as I don't use the full power of my Flare Blade again during my recovery time. I'm still in perfect shape to fight though, so don't count me out!"

"Okay! Everyone, let's go in!" Ike cried as everyone stormed in through the front door.

* * *

"Who is this leader? He is so impulsive just running in without thinking of the consequences!" said Hafedd, the commander of Nados Castle, and the halberdier enemy general below the Black Knight. "Doesn't he know that we have traps lying in wait for him?"

"Hm. Possibly he is acting based on only his instinct," said the Black Knight.

"Instinct… So foolish… I can take him down with ease."

"His group is not to be underestimated. I look forward to our meeting…"

* * *

"Soldiers everywhere…" Soren muttered. "There are three paths that we can take from here, so I suppose we can split into three groups and take out everyone on the way."

They were in a large chamber with a doorway to the right, one to the left, and one straight ahead.

"I see, and straight ahead is probably the throne," said Ike. "So I'm going to be leading the group straight through. Soren, assign a thief to each of the other pathways, namely Volke and Sothe."

"On your orders. We want a balanced team on the two sides as well, with the team straight ahead slightly more powerful. There is no doubt that it is the quickest path, but there are also the most enemies."

"Logical enough for me."

The smashers who stood out from the entire group looked at each other.

"I suppose we'll do whatever we want I guess?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I guess, that's how it's been for a while," said Fox.

"Is that fine with you, Ike?" asked Ganondorf.

Ike nodded. "Yeah, but… I want Roy to sit out for now."

"What? Why?" asked Roy. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"Because Rhys told me about your flare blade and your injuries. Rhys! Come over here!"

The white-robed cleric came over with his staff. "Yes, Ike? Ah, it's Roy again."

"Hey Rhys," said Roy.

"…I recommend that you rest for this battle. You are not fully healed, even if you feel healed."

"Really?" Roy asked.

Rhys nodded. "It's for your benefit, but in another day it should be fine. For now you need rest."

Roy looked back reluctantly.

"Don't worry, Roy, I'll fill in for you," said Link. "After all, I'm a swordsman too, and I'll beat more guys down to make up for you."

Roy smiled. "Thanks, Link. I just wished that Captain Falcon was here too, but… Ah well." He walked towards the entrance of the castle, but the gate suddenly shut down! "What?"

Everyone looked back. "Shoot, they've locked us in…" Ike muttered. "We're heading out now! Everyone, split apart as Soren ordered!"

"Heh, so it looks like I will be fighting…" Roy said.

"Eh, if what Rhys said is true…" Fox started. "You should really rest. I've seen the side effects of your flare blade attack… I don't think we should let you fight. Only when completely necessary."

Link whispered into Ganondorf's ear. "I bet ya Roy's gonna say that he's always necessary, especially in front of girls." Ganondorf nodded in agreement.

"I'm always necessary in fights, though! It's all for my fan girls!" Roy smiled.

Luigi came from behind and bashed Roy with his fist on the head, knocking him out. "You pervert…" Luigi muttered, shaking his head as he picked up Roy on his shoulders.

"That was… unexpected," said Ganondorf. "Luigi, I never thought of you being very violent."

"Yeah, well…" Luigi pulled his gloves up his wrist a bit more. "I'm just being ready for battle again."

Jigglypuff looked around a little. "I guess we should split up as well to support each team… Maybe only the sides though, so we'll split into two groups, because the group with Ike seems really powerful."

"Great idea! I never would have thought of that!" Luigi exclaimed. Jigglypuff looked at him. "…Well I'm sorry, but I guess it's because we're just arguing at the moment…"

"Right…"

"Luigi, what's up with you recently?" Fox asked. "The battle at the fort before you were…"

"Less talk, more action now," said Link. "We already argued too much here. Let's go."

"Agreed," said Luigi. _Seriously… What's wrong with me?_

He looked at his right hand, his left carrying the unconscious Roy. Beside him were Fox and Jigglypuff, and the three of them were walking through the left corridor. Link and Ganondorf took the right corridor.

They faced another group of enemies, mostly faster myrmidons with swords and the tougher axe-wielding fighters.

"So… while Ike's group is ahead, we should take out the stragglers," said Fox as he drew his blaster, pointing them at the enemies.

"Heh, you shouldn't take us so lightly, we're some of the top soldiers of… GAH!!" one of the soldiers cried. His face was burnt to crisp by Fox's blaster.

"What's that you said about taking you lightly?" asked Fox. "To us, you're just little bits getting in the way," he continued as he kicked a soldier with each syllable said.

"_Ice Beam!_" Jigglypuff cried as she fired a stream of ice piercing through a portion of the soldiers blocking the corridor. They all screamed as they froze in place, then fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

Luigi held his right hand out with the silver glove, about to release energy at the remaining soldiers that Fox was holding off at close range with his kicks and his staff. Suddenly, a shiver went up through his spine from his hand. He immediately dropped Roy and grabbed his right wrist with his left hand.

"Urgh…" Luigi muttered as he looked at his right hand. The silver was glittering more and more, causing his hand to shake violently. "…What the fuck is happening?"

Suddenly, the glove shone through the entire room, blinding everyone and also waking Roy up somehow.

"Ugh, that was a nice dream… Being at a beach with my fangirls…" Roy muttered groggily as he stood up, then he saw Luigi holding his right wrist, yelling.

Everyone was now focusing their attention at Luigi.

"Luigi! What's happening? Don't tell me it's a new weapon or something!" Fox cried.

BAM!

The room turned white, blinding everyone again. Suddenly, the light disappeared, leaving everyone standing, dumbfounded.

"What… just happened?" asked Roy.

Luigi smiled as he looked up, looking at the soldiers. "Boy, I'm ready for a fight. It seems like the Black Knight's armies don't look like they're in much shape either. Those are really nice outfits for house-cleaning, though," he taunted.

All of the soldiers looked at him again, then they all screamed.

"TEAR HIM INTO PIECES!"

"HIS HEAD HIS MINE!"

"KILL THAT BASTARD!"

"Luigi, what are you doing?" asked Jigglypuff, but Fox immediately jumped at her, grabbing her and landing beside Roy.

"I don't think we want to be in front of Luigi at the moment…" Fox muttered.

"I… agree…" Roy replied quietly.

"Come and get some, then," Luigi smirked, smacking his lips.

FOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

* * *

"Whoa! What the heck was that?" Link cried out as he heard the loud explosion and avoided a pillar falling down. The archer that was sitting on top of it was crushed underneath it.

"I… don't know," replied Ganondorf as he took out another five soldiers with a mighty swing of his axe. "It came from the direction of the other smashers. I hope they are okay."

Link took out the remaining soldiers with a quickly lit bomb, releasing a smaller explosion that took them all out. "Well we might as well catch up now after killing these guys that fell behind."

* * *

"Goldoan Dragons… They look pretty strong," said Samus. Pit nodded in agreement.

"I suppose we should scout ahead to search for any discrepancies in their populations…"

"Discrepancies? Just say any weird things happening! Geez, Pit, you're way too formal…"

"I apologize… I am just the way I am."

"That's more informal. Good for you!" Samus patted him on the back.

"What did I do?"

"…Never mind. But we should…"

ROAR!

There was a sudden roar. One of the golden dragons suddenly lifted its head and roared, then as if in a movie clip, transitioned into a human form.

"Wow… a dragon transforming into his human form… They're Laguz I guess," said Samus. "But why does he seem like he's… in pain?"

Pit looked through the pushes to look into the mountainous plains with Samus. "I do not know…"

Orbs of energy flowed from the laguz as he groaned, and all the other dragon laguz rushed to him, looking at him with concern.

"What's going on?"

"Is it that again?"

"No… please no…"

The two smashers looked at each other. "Definitely Nergal's doing. He's definitely on this island," said Samus.

"Yes, but should we alert the others?"

"No, I think we should just do what we're told to do. Their hands are full, so we'll just do the job here."

"I believe we should search for Captain Falcon…" Pit advised.

"Yeah, it isn't like him to disappear like this then not appear for a long time. Do you think anything happened to him?"

"Yes, I believe so."

Samus looked up. "I have a feeling about it too. And it isn't a good feeling…"

* * *

Decimated. The entire hall was absolutely blown apart in an instant Luigi released the energy from his hand. There were no carcasses at all, all of the targets were just plain gone.

"…Luigi?" Fox muttered at the standing Luigi. Luigi turned around to look at Fox, and he had a smile suggesting insanity.

"So, why don't we go for some more victims? I don't see any around here, so…" Luigi started. "How about we start with you?"

Jigglypuff jumped up and ran up to Luigi. "Luigi! What are you doing? This is not you!" she cried, shaking him on the knees.

"Luigi, what's wrong with you?" Fox asked, looking at him with a grim look. "You were like this too back there…"

"What's wrong? Nothing's wrong at all!" Luigi cried. "Now, have a taste of this!" He held out his right hand and released another powerful explosion. Jigglypuff instantly created a barrier with Protect, but even that wasn't enough to completely null the blow. Fox, Jigglypuff, and Roy were blown to the side and into the wall, and Luigi was smirking. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and his left hand grabbed his right wrist in an instant.

"Get… the… hell… off of me!" Luigi cried as he ripped his glove off of himself. He immediately ripped his left glove off as well. He was sweating, panting heavily, and looking at the damage he had caused in horror.

The other three stood up, staggering.

"I… I don't know…" Luigi muttered.

"…I think…" said Roy. "…That you should stay away from that weapon for a while…"

"Agreed…" Fox and Jigglypuff said in sync.

* * *

"You guys are already done?" asked Link as he and Ganondorf finally reached the throne room of the castle and reunited with all of Ike's mercenaries.

"Yeah, we've already reached the end. Behind that man right there is the Black Knight, and our goal…" Ike muttered. "I'll handle the Black Knight. I don't want anyone to follow me, but I want all of you to head back to camp."

"Hold!" Hafedd the enemy halberdier cried, holding his palm out. "You are not to pass by! You weaklings are no match for the commander, or even me myself!"

"We'll see about that!" Link cried as he dashed forward, throwing his sword at the lance wielder. "Ike! Go!" Ike nodded as he ran past Hafedd and Link, who were in a dreadlock.

"Hmph, so I'll just be standing here, watching…" said Ganondorf. "Hey! Boyd! Give me some tippers on using an axe! I just started!"

The muscular warrior Boyd looked at Ganondorf. "I thought we were to leave already."

"Possibly. I guess you can help me a bit outside the castle then."

The two left, leaving Link and Hafedd to continue fighting.

"I don't know why you are fighting me, particularly since you are not an axe user!" said Hafedd. "As a result, I have the advantage!"

After blocking another slash with the middle of his lance, Hafedd swung his lance around and stabbed at Link. Link briefly jumped back, about to swat it away with his sword, but the lance was too thin and long to swat away. The tip of the lance embedded itself in Link's stomach, leaving a dark red stain on his green tunic, then Hafedd brought his lance back, about to stab again.

"Not again!" Link jumped back, barely avoiding the long lance. Suddenly, the lance left Hafedd's hands, spinning towards Link. Link lifted his shield in tip to deflect the lance, which flew back at the halberdier.

"Ha! Your sword is no match for my lance!" Hafedd cried, lifting it up again. Suddenly, the lance was knocked out from his hands by a flying boomerang releasing whirlwinds of air. It sent the lance flying to the other side of the room, and it returned to Link's hands, who was about to charge.

Hafedd ducked underneath Link's horizontal slash, then he threw a punch at Link's stomach. Link jumped to the side, then rolled to gain momentum with his maneuver and to be directly behind Hafedd's vulnerable back. He jumped up, spinning and holding his sword out. He left behind several slash marks pointing in the same direction. Immediately Hafedd fell to the ground with his many wounds on his back, twitching for a moment, then stopped moving.

"I can't believe they consider these guys bosses…" said Link, clutching his wound. "Pretty strong… but so damn slow. Wow…"

* * *

"I'm here, Black Knight!" Ike cried, arriving in the room. The only two people were him and the Black Knight, who was standing with his back. The armored man turned around, holding the hilt of his sword and pointing it to the ground.

"So you've arrived… Have you brought the sword?" he asked with a deep voice.

Ike drew a long, golden sword that sparkled in the air. "The Ragnell… It's the only weapon that can defeat your armor because…"

"It has been blessed by the goddesses."

"I see…"

Suddenly, the small brown-haired Mist came running into the room. (Ike's little sister)

"Mist! I told you not to come here!" Ike cried.

"No! I'm not going to leave you! I'm not going to watch you die here!" Mist cried.

"…Fine. Stay behind me, we have no time to argue."

The Black Knight held his silver sword out to the side. "Then come, son of Gawain!"

Ike charged, the legendary Ragnell raised up high in the air...


	77. Chapter 77: Moment of Fate

Hack: I'll take a big guess at the length of this story and i'll say that there'll be at least 120 chapters total. I've already planned out quite a bit, including the ending to this fun arc, but it won't come until a few chapters later. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 77: Moment of Fate**

"Hey, where did everyone go?" asked Roy as all the smashers finally gathered together before the throne room.

"I have no clue..." Luigi replied. "I mean, none of Ike's mercenaries are here now..."

"You guys!" Link cried, coming into the room. "Ike is fighting the Black Knight right now! It's really fierce and awesome!"

"What? Why aren't you helping him then?" Fox cried.

"No, we shouldn't help him," said Jigglypuff. "This is Ike's fight and his fight alone. We'll go in and watch the fight. If he is beaten, we'll have to jump in to finish off the Black Knight before Ike is killed."

"...Right, that pride stuff..." Fox muttered, hanging his head down.

"Think of it as a show where there are tons of girls watching and cheering!" Roy happily said, patting Fox on the back. "And we're with the girls watching and cheering!"

Everyone sighed.

* * *

CLANG!

"What an odd fate," said the Black Knight, his Alondite (his sword) in a dreadlock with Ike's Ragnell. "This will be the third time I have defeated you. The first was in the forest of Gallia. The second at Delbray in Crimea."

"Although I've lost the first two times…" Ike started, being sure that Mist was far behind him and away from the Black Knight. "This time will be different!" He pushed against the Black Knight with his swords, pushing the knight a few feet backwards and leaving him vulnerable. Ike immediately charged the Ragnell, then released a horizontal slash, shooting an enormous blue wave of energy singeing some of the Black Knight's armor.

"Did you ever stop to think…" The Black Knight started, shooting a black wave of energy with his oen sword at Ike. "That using your father's technique against the man who slew him will be useless?"

"No, but…" Ike flung himself into the air, jumping over the black sonic waves. "My father robbed himself of his stronger arm! If it never happened… If he was never taken by the demon of Lehran's Medallion and never killed my mother… If he never slashed his own tendons after those times… He wouldn't be taken down by the likes of you!"

CLANG!

Ike fell down at the Black Knight, swinging his sword down vertically. The Black Knight retaliated by blocking with his own swords, but Ike's blow was so powerful that the Black Knight was blown back into the wall! Ike turned his head to see Mist still behind him.

"Mist! Get out of here!" Ike cried. "I don't want you in any danger! Reinforcements will be coming soon to this room!"

"But…"

"Go!"

"…I'm sorry…" Mist muttered before she ran out of the room.

Suddenly, at least a hundred soldiers came rushing into the room from the other side. One of the cried out, "Protect the Black Knight!" They all wielded their weapons, pointed at Ike.

"Stop! The boy is mine!" The Black Knight demanded, plucking himself from the wall. "I can handle him on my own! Do not attack!"

"Weaklings aren't to interfere!" Roy cried out as he instantly rushed into the room, taking out three unsuspecting soldiers with a sword slash. "Ike! We'll leave the guy to you!" he cried as the rest of the smashers rushed in, fighting the soldiers.

Ike smiled. "Thanks. I won't lose. I'll avenge my father…"

"Say that after you've defeated me!" the Black Knight cried as he released another wave of energy at Ike. Ike crouched low underneath it, then sent his own wave at the Black Knight.

"You can't dodge my sweeping attacks," said Ike. "You're in no position to dodge in that heavy armor."

Suddenly, the Black Knight literally jumped several feet above the wave, his pieces of armor clanging against each other! He jumped as if he was wearing no armor at all!

"That… is absolutely insane…" said Fox, gaping at the powerful Black Knight while shooting another soldier in the face with his blaster.

"How does a guy with so much armor move like that?" asked Luigi, stabbing another soldier with his hybrid sword of fire and electricity.

The Black Knight flipped once through the air and fell, his sword pointed down at Ike. At the last instant, Ike rolled out of the way.

BOOM!

The Alondite embedded itself in the ground, leaving several cracks throughout the entire room.

"Wow, that's powerful!" cried Jigglypuff, knocking out another soldier with a metal fist.

Ike immediately jumped back up, just to barely block another attack from the Black Knight. Because he was caught off guard, Ike fell on his back, still keeping the Ragnell in a dreadlock against the Alondite, though barely.

BOOM!

Ike instantly rolled to the side several times, several feet away from where the Alondite smashed a part of the floor into pieces. He stood up, barely blocking slash after slash from the Black Knight.

"I'm not going to lose against you!" Ike cried, blocking his enemy's sword again.

The Black Knight didn't say anything. Suddenly, the Alondite turned blue, and he swung it at Ike. Ike blocked instinctively, but the Alondite suddenly knocked away the Ragnell! Before Ike knew what happened, the Black Knight dealt a deadly blow with his sword.

"_Luna…_"

The slash pierced through all of Ike's light armor and created a huge gaping slash wound through his entire body, from his armor to the skin. Ike cried in pain as he fell to the ground, holding his new wound.

"Ike!" all the smashers cried. A couple, namely Fox and Jigglypuff, stood a step towards Ike.

"Stay back! This is my fight!" Ike cried, holding an open palm out.

"Excellent. I like your honor," said the Black Knight.

Ike blocked another slash, blood dripping from his new wound from the Black Knight's powerful Luna attack.

"Again… I'm not… going to… lose!" Ike cried as he shoved the Black Knight a few feet back, then he held his sword back and swung it, releasing another wave of energy. The Black Knight jumped over it, speedily running towards Ike again.

"Is this all you have?"

"I've been perfecting this for a while…" said Ike. "And I'm going to use what I have against you!"

He closed his eyes, holding his sword to the side. The Ragnell suddenly began to glow with a dark blue aura, shining through the room. Suddenly, Ike disappeared!

"What?" the Black Knight said as he looked around. He looked up to see Ike's sword flying in the air, spinning at high velocities like a fast windmill.

Ike suddenly appeared above the sword, caught it, and dove down with his sword. The Black Knight quickly held his own sword up to block it, but the Alondite was blown away this time! Ike's sword struck the Black Knight's helm, then created a huge vertical gash on the armor down to the legs! Just like the previous Luna attack, the Ragnell pierced through all of the Black Knight's armor and through his entire human body.

Ike landed, then immediately leaped again, shooting his sword upwards across the same gash on the Black Knight's armor. Blue energy orbs flowed from the sword and into the Black Knight, then coming back to Ike as if healing him.

Ike actually stole some of the Black Knight's energy.

"_Aether!_"

Ike flipped in the air and landed behind the Black Knight, kneeling. The Black Knight fell on his knees, but his armor didn't fall apart.

"I… See… You have improved beyond… My imagination… Son of Gawain…" Then he fell face flat onto the floor.

Ike panted, then he stood up. "I told you… I'm not going to lose," he said, pointing the Ragnell at the Black Knight's unconscious body.

"Ike… Congratulations…" said Roy, patting Ike's back. "You've won."

Ike smiled, then he fell to the ground, breathing heavily. "I'm tired…"

"We don't have time to stay here!" Ganondorf cried. "One of the soldiers I killed mentioned a trap being activated in this castle, and it about to crumble down!"

"…Great, and I can't move now…" Ike muttered.

"Bad news, everyone…" said Fox, running back into the room. "The only way out is sealed. We can't get out of here."

"Ike!" A colored man with turquoise hair suddenly rushed in the room out of nowhere. "Get out of here! Now!"

"Nasir!"

Luigi pointed at Nasir. "Who's this guy?" he asked Roy.

"I have no clue. He looks like a laguz in human form, though."

* * *

"A fortress? What the heck is a mechanical building like this doing here?" asked Samus.

"It seems like there are dragons behind pulled in by an unseen energy…" Pit muttered, pointing at black beams of energy grabbing various dragons from behind and pulling them in.

"It's pretty obvious that Nergal's here then… Maybe Captain Falcon's there since he's so darn fast?"

Pit shrugged. "We will have to see soon and go in."

"Wait. I can see what's inside the fortress," said Samus.

"Really? How?"

"My X-Ray visor." Samus tapped her helmet and stared at the fortress for a straight minute.

"What do you see?" Pit asked.

"…I see two figures… One is undoubtedly Captain Falcon with his able and flexible body but… He doesn't seem to be in the best condition…"

"What is he doing?"

"…He's sitting… in a chair… Crap, it looks like he's tied up! He's not even moving!"

"Oh my god! And the other figure must be Nergal!"

Samus nodded. "Pit, we're both going into that fortress right now."

After a couple minutes of running or flying, they reached the entrance instantly. The dragons weren't too hostile, they seemed to ignore the two smashers.

The large electronic fortress seemed to have a similar model to fortresses like the Halberd and the X-Nauts. A large electronic glass door beckoned to them.

"So… You ready for this, Pit?" asked Samus.

"Of course." Pit smiled, taking out his bow. He looked up to see a blue phazon shot fly towards him from the sky, and he instantly jumped to the side, almost knocking down Samus.

"What the… Dark Samus?" Samus then let out a gasp. The black and blue Dark Samus was in the air, aiming his arm cannon at the two.

"We've been expecting you two for a while…" said Dark Samus. "We've been having fun with one of your friends."

"What? What have you been doing with Captain Falcon?" asked Pit.

Dark Samus snickered. "Go in and find out, but I won't let you in!"

"Just you wait, I'm going to knock you out like I did back in Aether!" Samus cried.

"Wait. Samus, I will take care of Dark Samus," said Pit.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. You are more capable than I am of defeating Nergal, and I heard you mentioned that you absorb the Endowment of Exigency of fallen opponents. I believe it is natural for you to take what Nergal has left."

"…Of course. I leave him to you, Pit."

"Fleeing, Samus?" Dark Samus fired another dark phazon shot at the door that Samus was about to run through, but the shot was cancelled out by a light arrow.

"Thanks!" Samus ran into the fortress.

"Oh, so you're interfering with us now? You weren't a target but since you are helping our enemies, I guess you're an enemy as well! Easy prey!" Dark Samus cried.

"Ah, but I will not be as easy as you think…" Pit replied, pointing his bow at Dark Samus.

* * *

"…So Leanne was found in Gritnea Tower to the south, is that correct?" Ike asked another orange dragon laguz. She nodded, but didn't say anything more. "Well nothing else to tell us? Well it doesn't matter, I already decided to trust you, since I trust Nasir."

The group was already back in camp the day after Ike's fight with the Black Knight.

"Titania! Soren!" Ike called out. "I'm going to take a small group of our forces and bring them south to find Leanne in Gritnea Tower."

"So what about the main army?" asked Soren.

"About that… Princess Elincia, may I count on you?"

The green-haired princess nodded. "I'll be sure to continue preparations to storm the main capital of Crimea. But please come back soon."

"All right."

Ike walked out from the tent and into a different one, then rested on his bed. His wound from the Black Knight was already wrapped up, and he was in walking condition, but he still wasn't in fighting condition.

"Ike, anything wrong?" Roy asked as he came in.

"You know… We went through a lot ever since you came here," said Ike. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to remain here with your friends."

"Why? You're going out somewhere?"

Ike nodded. "I'm heading south to recover a friend of our comrade. A heron that has been captured. They're known to be extinct, but one of our comrades is a heron. The other… She is captured in the tower, and we're going to head out to bring her back."

"Let us come with you! We want to help you out!"

Ike shook his head. "Sorry… It's just you guys need your rest too. I'm taking a force that didn't fight in our previous battle, so they're fully prepared already."

"Come on Ike!"

"No. I apologize… It's just we need a small force, and we will stand out too much if you come with us because our numbers will become large and some of your people are… different from our natives in appearances."

"Ah…"

"Don't worry, I'll be back by tomorrow. The day after tomorrow though, we'll head out to attack the capital, where Ashnard is. I want you to tell your friends this, but I forbid you to have any of them go south to where I'm headed."

"…Okay. Are you okay after your fight with the Black Knight?"

"Yeah… I'm not in perfect condition, but it'll work out."

"Okay. Be sure not to get yourself killed out there."


	78. Chapter 78: Bow of Heaven

Hack: An update that was a little late because of… very busy things. Apologies for that. This chapter is mostly focused on Pit vs. Dark Samus; other sections are there as a transition to the next chapter. Look forward to it! It'll be Samus vs. Nergal next!

I do not own SSBM or any Nintendo series, so beat it.

* * *

**Chapter 78: Bow of Heaven**

Samus panted as she ran through the dark hall. The walls were covered in metal steel, something you wouldn't see in the Fire Emblem worlds. She constantly dodged security lasers, seeing them via thermal visor, as she continued running.

_Nothing better have happened to that idiotic pervert… I'm coming to kill you once and for all, Nergal!_

She finally reached a large dark room. It was completely dark. Yes, it is so dark that you can't see anything! So darn dark and very, very dark that even Samus's thermal visor couldn't see anything!

"Um, pretty wide word choice there…" Samus said to the ceiling. "And I can see pretty clearly with my thermal visor."

Um… Okay… Right… um… Bye!

Samus shrugged as she ignored my writing and me. "Nergal! Come out! I know you're in here!"

A dark, cloaked figure appeared on the opposite side of the room. The long hooked nose, the black turban, and the scarred eye… It was unmistakably Nergal.

"So… You've come…"

"Out with it. Where's Captain Falcon?"

Nergal sneered. "I'll just say that he's been taken care of…"

Samus reacted with a phazon shot at Nergal, but it bounced off of a barrier!

"Don't mess with me. If you've done anything to him, I swear I'm going to pay you back tenfold."

"Heh… Well if you want to see how he is… You will have to defeat me. I will tell you now that there is no chance, as I have the advantage in this room… I will kill you and I will take your powers from your dead body!"

"We'll see about that!"

* * *

While the soldiers of the Greil Mercenaries were moving out toward the Castle and about to infiltrate it, the battle in the island of the Goldoan Dragons was already heating up.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Pit jumped back three times, narrowly avoiding a phazon shot from Dark Samus's cannon. Dark Samus was hovering in the air, firing shot after shot at Pit and giving him no time to retaliate. Any moment Pit tried to take flight, Dark Samus fired a shot directly above Pit, forcing him back to the ground.

"What is this? You can't even attack while dodging!" Dark Samus bellowed as he fired more shots. "You'll run out of stamina soon enough though, and I have infinite phazon. You can't keep running away!"

Pit turned his head behind him. There was a large tree in the midst of the open field. He made a break for it, but the tree immediately broke off from another phazon shot!

"Nuh huh! No cover for you!"

"This is not turning out well…" Pit muttered. He lifted his right leg and was about to leap off to his left.

BAM!

Dark Samus instantly shot at Pit's left, who was about to jump to the left as well. Pit took the phazon blow directly in the stomach, and in a moment the phazon shot exploded, leaving a huge crater in the ground. Pit was sent flying into the air and out of sight.

"That's how powerful I am, little angle," said Dark Samus. "You stand no chance against me."

"Strange… Now that I am now in the air, we can combat fairly…" Pit said, shooting forward out of nowhere in the air like a missile. He held his bow out like a spear. Before Dark Samus noticed him, Pit flew straight through Dark Samus, creating a hole in his stomach with his sharp bow. Dark Samus cried out in pain as he stumbled in the air.

"Ugh…" Dark Samus groaned, holding his new hole in the stomach.

"You are not dead?" Pit asked. His body was slightly charred from the phazon explosion, and bits of phazon were burning spots of his skin, but it wasn't too bad.

"My body is phazon…" Dark Samus's hole instantly healed, recovering his entire body! "You cannot wound me."

Pit gritted his teeth in disgust. "But… You've shown me how strong your skills are. Allow me to show mine to you!" He held his bow up. Dark Samus immediately aimed her arm cannon, but before he had a chance to fire, a light arrow pierced through his helmet.

HEAD SHOT!

"Ha ha…" Dark Samus laughed as his head began to grow back from the blue gooey phazon. He immediately glided to the side to feel another arrow blast his arm off.

"So your skills with the bow aren't so bad after all… But you can't beat me with arrows alone! I have an infinite supply of phazon!"

"So you say," said Pit, piercing another arrow through Dark Samus's stomach. However, his hole in the stomach immediately regenerated along with his arm!

"You know, I've been going a little easier on you, so let's up it up a notch, shall we?" said Dark Samus. He glowed for a moment, then disappeared instantly in Pit's eyes!

"What…?" Pit gasped. Suddenly, something struck him from behind at incredible speeds! Losing his control of his wings, he dropped his bow and fell to the ground.

Dark Samus immediately de-morphed out of his morph ball and charged his arm cannon at the falling Pit. After a few seconds, he fired an enormous sphere of phazon directly at Pit!

Pit immediately recovered from his fall and took control of his wings when the phazon shot was directly in front of him. Too late to move out of the way, Pit literally swung his bow through the shot! It split into two and each piece of the shot flew past him, narrowly missing him.

"What?" Dark Samus cried, but Pit fired another shot that tore off his arm once more. "Just how sharp is that bow?" he asked as his arm grew back.

"You will see for yourself," Pit replied confidently as he suddenly gained a burst of speed and charged towards Dark Samus from below. Before Dark Samus knew what happened, Pit appeared miles behind him with his bow out. A huge gash appeared on Dark Samus's front body, phazon spilling out from the new wound.

Dark Samus whirled around, his wound beginning to heal, but another arrow through the center of his wound stopped it from recovering, and he knew that he had no time to rest; Pit really wasn't a beginner of sniping.

"You want to play like that, eh?" Dark Samus growled angrily, pointing his arm cannon. Pit, who was miles away and barely in sight, suddenly lost control of his left wing; a small phazon shot accurately punctured a small hole in his left wing.

"No!" Pit cried as he attempted to fly to his right, but he lost control of his right wing and began falling to the ground. He spun his body once to land on his feet safely, unable to fly at the moment. He looked up to see another enormous phazon shot flying towards him!

"It's a homing shot, you won't be able to dodge it in time, fool," said Dark Samus, smirking down at Pit. "And without a shield, you can't block… what?"

Pit held his bow out, pointing the middle of it to the approaching shot, then spun his bow like a windmill! Sparks flew as the energy ball collided with the spinning bow, then the blast stopped in place! Pit drew his bow back, mustered all of his force into his bow, and then smashed his bow into the blast! The phazon energy ball flew back at Dark Samus, who flew out of the way to narrowly avoid it.

"Energy balls are a waste of time," said Pit, smirking.

"Oh really? Well let's see you dodge this again!" Dark Samus transformed into a small ball in the air then fell into the forest.

Even Pit's sharp eyes couldn't find the tiny ball in his sight. He bent his knees and jumped, grabbing one of the large branches on the tree in front of him.

BOOM!

The tree that Pit was hanging onto suddenly exploded, sending Pit's body flying miles away! A well-placed power bomb by Dark Samus had erupted next to that tree. Pit struggled to get back on his feet, but he grunted as the small blue ball smashed into his face, breaking his jaw instantly.

Dark Samus boosted away, leaving several blue energy bombs around Pit.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Pit was covered in black smoke, his body twitching as each bomb exploded. Dark Samus charged himself, his spherical body glowing blue.

Pit groaned, and saw the approaching blue ball blasting towards him. He closed his eyes…

_Goddess of Palutena… Lend me strength… Just once… I must defeat this enemy to accomplish your mission!  
_

* * *

_"Pit, before you venture off on your quest…" said the goddess Palutena. "…Take this…"_

_She held out her white hands with a golden bow in it. Pit looked confused._

"_But… My goddess, I am already in possession of a bow. Surely this is not necessary?" Pit stuttered, taking out his own silver bow. It looked identical, although the golden bow had an aura of purity around it._

"_Take it. It is infinitely more powerful than your current bow. You will not realize its full potential as of now, but someday, its secrets will unveil…"_

"_This bow… It is much sharper than this…" Pit gasped in amazement, holding the new bow in his hands._

"_Its true powers will unveil as you use it more and more… Use it wisely, Pit, and come back here alive," said Palutena. "Unveil the true powers behind the Bow of Heaven…"_

* * *

BAM!

Dark Samus slammed into Pit, plowing him through tree after tree at frightening speeds and power.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Several dozen trees fell as Pit's back finally collided with the side of a huge rock. Blood trickled down his forehead as Dark Samus was still pushing into Pit…

Not Pit, not even his bow, but…

"Daggers? What?" Dark Samus muttered as he was still spinning into two golden knives. Pit immediately sliced Dark Samus off of himself, creating an X-shaped wound on him. Dark Samus morphed out of his ball mode and flew up into the air again.

"No matter. You can't get me with those knives while I'm far up… here?" Dark Samus looked at his wound and noticed that it wasn't healing itself! "ARGH!!!"

"The power of light conquers your healing abilities, Dark Samus," said Pit, standing up again, trembling. He held his two new weapons, one in each hand, to his side. "With the ultimate power unlocked, I believe you can't heal yourself now."

"Gr… This fight has only just begun, little angel!" Dark Samus fired another shot. Before it got halfway towards Pit, however, Pit stuck his two swords together, forming a bow, and instantly shot an arrow through the blast and through Dark Samus's shoulder!

"Ugh!"

Pit suddenly appeared in front of Dark Samus with his bow split into two blades again, and slashed at Dark Samus. The latter hovered backwards to avoid the slash, still cringing from his permanent wound.

"How did you…?"

"I simply jumped. It is as simple as that."

"No… You can't beat me!" Dark Samus fired a phazon missile, which homed in on Pit. Pit landed on a tree and dove out of the way, but the missile continued to follow him! He looked around briefly, just to see Dark Samus nowhere!

"He must have transformed once again…" Pit murmured, diving to the side to dodge the missile. The missile curved in the air, flashed read, and shot at Pit once again. Pit reformed his bow and shot an arrow, but it had no effect on the missile! He jumped over it to dodge it, but the missile continued to follow him.

Above him, Pit saw Dark Samus un-morphed, glowing an eerily blue shade. Suddenly, Dark Samus shot forward, faster than a missile, and directly collided with Pit!

KABOOM!

Pit was sent flying into another rock, coughing out blood. He leaned against the rock, barely opening his eyes when the missile found him. Desperate, Pit split his bow once more and slashed at the missile, which exploded in front of him. Phazon spilled all over the place, including Pit, and burned any skin that it touched.

Pit looked up to see Dark Samus about to fire himself again, and then he stood up, shaking once more.

_I can barely see… I am almost out…_

He squinted as Dark Samus flew forward. Pit grabbed his bow in defense…

KABOOM!

* * *

"Is everything ready?" asked Roy. "Ike should be coming back any time now, it's his scheduled time."

"Yes, Roy," Soren replied. "By the looks of things, we should give a direct attack through the castle and…"

"Tell that to Ike, not me. I'm not the leader."

"Sorry. But the final fight is approaching quickly."

Roy nodded. "I do hope that Ike succeeds in recovering that heron…"

Suddenly, Fox, Jigglypuff, and Link came into the tent with Roy and Soren.

"You guys busy?" asked Link.

"By your leave then," said Soren as he left the tent swiftly to continue preparations.

"Well you're right on time, I just finished talking with Soren here about some preparations," said Roy. "I just prepared the supplies and such as Ike always does, so it should save a lot of time and give more time for rest, especially for Ike."

"This Ashnard… Have you seen him before?" asked Fox.

Roy shook his head. "None of us have, actually. He's the king of Daien, but with Lehran's Medallion, he can easily wield a terrible power. Ike told me that the only thing that can damage Ashnard is his own sword, the Ragnell."

"So Ike will be in another solo fight then…"

"Put some more faith in him!" said Jigglypuff. "He took out the Black Knight, so he can stand a chance against King Ashnard!"

"But I heard…" Roy interrupted. "That Ashnard is a mad king… He constantly lusts for power…"

"Sounds a bit like Nergal to me," said Fox.

Luigi suddenly came into the tent as well. "You guys! Ike just came back right now, and we're about to hold a ceremony for him!"

"Huh? What kind of ceremony?"

"Ike giving his last words before the final fight! The Princess Elincia already gave hers, you guys must be deaf!"

The other smashers looked at each other. "We might as well go!" said Jigglypuff.

* * *

Ike nervously stood on a large wooden stage towering before all of the tents. All of the soldiers of the Greil Mercenaries stood before him, looking up. Ike looked back before him to see the large Crimean castle in the horizon. He looked down, and took a deep breath.

"Hey there! I know this is our final fight right now, but… This'll be our hardest battle, and I don't want any of you dying before me! It doesn't matter how our blood ties are, but we're all one big family. We came from different lands, and we got together to form this army in many different ways, but I remember my father's words… We are a family. If you don't want to cause your family harm, don't die out on me, and don't drop a single ounce of blood!"

Cheers roared from the crowd, and the smashers joined in. Ike paused for a moment, smiling. He stood there, looking up to the sky. _Father…_

"We're come a long way, but it ends here with this final battle! Let us liberate Crimea, our family and friends, from the grasp of Daien and the King Ashnard, and let us defeat them!

Men of Crimea, Laguz of Tellius… Greil Mercenaries… **Move out!!!**" Ike cried.

Everyone cheered as every soldier rushed forward towards the Crimean Castle taken by Ashnard. Ike held his Ragnell into the air.

"King Ashnard… I am coming for you!"

* * *

Phazon was now everywhere. The rock burned into cinders, the grass instantly died. There was a huge crater right where the rock was. Pit was nowhere to be seen.

"Peh! Shows that you're no match for me!" Dark Samus grinned. "Ah… the light particles in my wounds are going away… They were blocking the phazon from healing myself…"

His wounds instantly healed again, and he was in perfect condition. "Light alone cannot defeat the Endowment of Exigency, little angel."

SHING!

A light arrow flew through the air, and Dark Samus immediately jumped back, narrowly avoiding it.

"What? Where is he?" he asked.

"Right behind you. I thank you for falling into my trap," Pit said. Dark Samus had barely turned around but Pit appeared directly in front of Dark Samus with his two blades held out. At first, there were two mere vertical gashes on Dark Samus's chest, unable to recover. Then he was split into three. Unable to heal, he transformed into phazon once more and slithered away.

Pit sighed, and then fell to the ground. "He is not dead… I do not know how to defeat him… But I seemed to have limited his powers for the moment… Now I know the true power of this bow…"

Instant Replay:

_Seconds before Dark Samus collided with Pit, Pit held his bow in one hand. He grabbed the rock behind him with the other and lifted it up with inhumane strength. He smashed it into Dark Samus, doing zero damage but protecting himself. Pit rolled back to avoid the explosion, and hid behind a tree._

_As Dark Samus observed the damage, Pit formed his bow and aimed forward. Now knowing the true power of this bow, he fired the arrow, then concentrated all his energy in the arrow. The arrow flew to the side, out of Dark Samus's sight, then upwards into the air. As a decoy, it fired forward from above and in front of Dark Samus, who jumped back into Pit, who was ready to attack._


	79. Chapter 79: A Cowardly Fight

Hack: Yeah, honestly I'm not too satisfied with this chapter, but I'm thinking it works. Not much else to say. Next chapter: Attack on Crimea! Soon to follow is the BIG Ashnard fight! And by big, I mean big!

* * *

**Chapter 79: A Cowardly Fight **

Knowing your opponent's weaknesses will always lead to victory… It is how I set up this room specialized for Samus… In my current state, I have no chance against her, but with this room I have set up, she will die by my hands, even in Ren Kiu!

Nergal smirked evilly. "Do you know why this room is dark?

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Samus.

"Because… Gravity is a hundred times more powerful in here. I have an aura around me that only I can create to prevent this. You, on the other hand, rely on moving through the air. Gravity counters this aspect…"

"Do you think I need to be in the air to kill someone as weak as you?" Samus asked as she dashed towards Nergal. She ran a little more slowly, feeling the effects of the heavier gravity, and actually realized that she cannot jump in her current form.

Still, she didn't need to be in the air to beat someone this low…

Or so she thought.

"Speed Booster!" Samus cried as she suddenly gained a huge burst of speed, running towards the standing Nergal.

With a swish of a cloak, at the last second, Nergal swirled in the spot, disappearing at once. Samus immediately skidded to a halt and looked around to see Nergal floating in the air.

"Since you cannot reach me with your close range attacks, and you cannot jump…" said Nergal. "You must resort to your energy shots!"

"Fine by me," said Samus as she charged her arm cannon. At the speed of light, she fired a blast at Nergal, who smirked.

"Observe… The true power of darkness…"

A black hole appeared, attempting to suck in the blast. "This attack can absorb any energy blast and add it to my power!"

"Well too bad, because it's a missile," said Samus. Nergal's eyes widened as the missile shot through the hole and into his face. He was blasted into the wall, his fragile body already giving out.

"Do you seriously think that I'd fire an energy shot after you gave what you were about to do away?" Samus asked, walking to the Nergal who was on the ground. "Did you seriously think that? _Super Missile!_"

Her arm cannon opened up and fired a missile surrounded in an orange aura; a super missile. Nergal mustered his strength to teleport out of the way, up into the air again.

"I was prepared for this… _Ereshkigal!_"

Several black holes surrounded him, blocking him from Samus's view. The homing super missile curved and shot towards the black holes, but it was engulfed as well!

When the black holes disappeared, Nergal was out of sight.

"What?"

"Over here… _Luna!_"

Several dark, hovering, and round inscriptions appeared around Samus, surrounding her with a dark aura. She crouched, but suddenly remembered that she couldn't jump!

_Damn it... Well this is best used for these times..._

Samus stuck her left arm directly upwards and shot her grappling beam, clinging it to the ceiling. She reeled herself towards the ceiling, just to see the dark aura contract into one tiny spot and then explode.

She immediately detached herself from the ceiling, just to fall at frightening speeds. A dark sphere struck where the grappling beam once stuck to, exploding once again.

Nergal was floating on the wall, smirking. _Use it… Ren Kiu… That way you can overcome this room, then I can absorb it…_

"_Sonic Boom!_"

With a swish of a cloak, a black barrier appeared around Nergal, blocking the invisible explosion of sound.

"Ugh… I can't block it much longer…" Nergal grunted as he twirled again, teleporting somewhere in the room.

"Come out you coward!" Samus cried out. "You can't hide from me, Nergal!" She flicked her helmet, turning on her thermal visor. She pointed her arm cannon to her left and fired her violet wave beam, which pierced through the wall. Nergal, who teleported behind the wall, created another barrier, but the beam pierced through it and struck him clean, causing him to cry out in pain.

"It's not over…" Nergal muttered, teleporting back into the room. "I have many more things in this room for you, Samus…"

"Bring it. _Wavebuster!_"

Like before, a snake of violet electricity flew through the air, aimed at Nergal. Realizing that he won't be able to teleport, he placed his hands on the ground.

"_Nosferatu!_"

Another hole appeared in front of him, absorbing the energy attack. Noticing this, Samus immediately stopped her attack, but it was too late. Nergal had already absorbed her attack and was completely healed again.

"I perfected it so energy attacks will be useless!" Nergal cried out.

"True…" Samus said. _But why didn't he use it against my Sonic Boom? Is there some sort of recharge time for him to use it, or does it have limited uses? I must find out…_

"Come on! What else do you have? You cannot be this weak!"

_Only because you've rigged this room..._

Samus whirled around and fired another homing missile, just to see Nergal teleport again.

_I'm really a sitting duck right now... I need to turn the tables..._

She sidestepped another dark blast and turned around, firing another Sonic Boom attack. Nergal teleported once again without using Nosferatu.

Samus knew just where he's teleporting.

BAM!

"ARGH!!!"

Samus released a third Sonic Boom attack directly behind her, right where Nergal teleported. Nergal was blasted into the wall, blood trickling everywhere.

"I knew it. Your movements are becoming too predictable, Nergal," said Samus. "And you can't constantly repeat your attack to absorb my energy shots."

"So you think so?" Nergal smiled.

Samus pointed her left arm at Nergal, firing her grappling beam. Moments before it reached him, Nergal teleported out of the way again. The grappling beam attached to the wall behind Nergal and reeled Samus in; she was now clinging on the wall. Predicting accurately, she fired another super missile at an angle to her right, right where Nergal teleported.

KABOOM!

Nergal's cloak became charred and ripped, and his face was covered in ashes.

"I told you, you can't use the same things against me repeatedly," said Samus. "Even Vaati put up more of a fight here, even with your gravitational advantages."

"Ah… So, you are not that easy… I believe I should bring it up a level…"

Samus dropped to the floor, preparing herself for the worst, and glared at Nergal. Immediately she fired another super missile, attempting to throw him off guard.

However, Nergal lifted his arms and cried, "_Fenrir!_" He was covered in dark auras again, and this time, it deflected the super missile back at Samus! She instantly morphed into ball mode, causing the missile to explode overhead, narrowly missing her.

"I am immune to all of your projectile attacks, Samus! And you will grow tired far before I do, unless you unleash…"

"_Ren Kiu!!!_" Samus cried. She placed her hand on the floor as her silver suit made a frightening transformation. Her arm cannon became inches longer and wider with a light shade of blue. Every single joint in her silver varia suit glowed with a blue aura of phazon. Her arms and legs became slimmer, and her waist became thinner.

In short, she became much more slimmer, faster, and flexible.

"Nergal, start praying, because you are just about to die."

Samus jumped away, then instantly disappeared. Nergal took out a remote control, smiling.

"Now you will see the error of your ways…"

He pressed a large red button on it then put it away. A second later, Samus screamed as she struck the wall; she was instantly electrocuted through her entire phazon suit.

"Ugh… What… happened?" She stuttered, attempting to get back on her feet.

"You move around in Ren Kiu by using the walls to your advantage," said Nergal. "So one thing you accomplish via Ren Kiu is drainage in energy…"

"You talk too much… You know that?"

Samus sped towards Nergal and fired a phazon blast. Before it reached Nergal, Nergal unleashed another black hole around himself. The phazon shot, however, split into several hundred, and surrounded Nergal from every possible direction!

KA-BOOM!!!!!

Samus turned around, beginning to walk out of the room after noticing no trace of Nergal behind the pile of phazon. "Do your research more thoroughly, Nergal," she said, about to leave the room. "Because you really aren't any match for me."

"Oh really?"

Samus instantly whirled around. All of the phazon on the ground disappeared, and Nergal was back in the air!

"I have installed several devices in this room… Ones that detect and absorb your phazon. You are in no condition to fight, Samus. I rule this room," Nergal sneered. "I have the upper advantage."

"Because… You're such a fucking coward that can't fight by himself to save his own neck!"

Nergal sneered again. "Right… We shall see… I will take your power, the power that you took from all of our dead comrades, and I will rule over the Ring of Darkness!"

Samus looked at her arm cannon. _With the phazon in my suit now, I can't use it or else Nergal will just use it to power himself up… I can't use the walls to engage in aerial combat, and I can't suspend myself in the air just yet… What is there to do?_

Samus instantly transformed into her miniscule ball form, and immediately disappeared from Nergal's sight!

"What?"

In an instant, Samus went flying into Nergal's back, cracking his spine and knocking him all the way down to the floor. There was another sickening crack as Nergal's fragile body struck the ground. Samus bounced back to the wall and magnetized herself to it.

"With magnetism in the spider ball, electricity on the walls don't hurt me," said Samus. "You forgot to take my morph ball into your imperfect calculations, Nergal."

Nergal whirled around, to see the small ball shoot off of the wall again, and then she was nowhere to be seen. Unsure, Nergal immediately spread his arms out, creating a barrier of darkness.

"_Barrier!_"

KA-BOOM!

The minute ball planted a small yet destructive power bomb directly next to Nergal. The explosion immediately expanded, shattering the barrier and blowing Nergal into the wall again. Blood splattered everywhere and black pieces of Nergal's cloak were floating everywhere, ripped off.

"If you're on the ground…" said Nergal. "This should finish you!" He laid his hands on the ground and dark fog spread out, covering the entire ground. Samus immediately rolled up the wall, attaching herself to it through magnetism.

_Crap… If I'm using Spider Ball, my speed is horribly limited… I can't use morph ball form to my full potential now, but I can't go on the ground and use the speed from the Endowment of Exigency…_

She shot out from the wall to the other side of the room to avoid another dark shot. Nergal was floating in the air far from Samus's range.

"If electricity does not stop you, then this will!" He took out another remote and pressed another button. Samus immediately fell to the ground, the walls lacking electricity now. She immediately unmorphed and shot her grappling beam to the ceiling, just to see all of the walls begin burning with fire.

"What's up with you and not fighting fair, you coward?" Samus angrily growled.

"I am not a coward! I will fight for myself once I obtain your Endowment of Exigency! The first step toward immortality!"

"Immortality? There is no such thing, Nergal."

Samus fired several more missiles at Nergal, who deflected them with darkness.

"Without those tools under your cloak to absorb my attacks, Nergal…" said Samus. "And the environment you set up for me, you really are no match for me."

"Tools underneath my cloak? How did you know?"

"It's obvious. A simple weakling like you can't possibly absorb all my attacks at all."

"…A… simple weakling… You will PAY FOR THAT!!!"

Samus was now stuck. None of her attacks worked anymore. She was not skilled in close combat and she can't release her grappling beam to remove Nergal's weapons; once she released her grappling beam, she'd fall into the misty ground and take incredible damage, and be locked down. If the walls weren't covered in fire, then she would be able to use them to speed around, but that is no longer a possibility. Her best chance was to release her grappling beam and attempt to remove those weapons…

That's what she did.

Samus's grappling beam released from the ceiling, leaving Samus in free fall. She pointed her left arm at Nergal and fired it, and it grabbed an object inside his cloak.

"Gotcha!"

"What?"

She drew her grappling beam back to reel in Nergal's weapon, but it wasn't a weapon…

KA-BOOM!

Samus was sent flying into the wall, and the fire on the wall burned even through her powerful suit. She fell to the ground and the dark particles from the mist began invading her suit, already beating her into unconsciousness. Her suit transformed back to normal, exiting Ren Kiu.

"Did you think I would fall for that? I simply place powerful bomb spells in my cloak if you tried taking away my weapons!" Nergal laughed as the dark mist cleared away. He floated down to the unconscious body of Samus and he lifted her up with dark particles.

"You took away all of my powers… I deserve it all… The power that Ridley, Vaati, and Mewtwo had. Give it back!"

He fired Samus into the air and fired another energy ball. Suddenly, Samus disappeared!

"Ha ha! Take that you… what? You were unconscious! How could you disappear?" Nergal cried as he looked frantically around.

"For once try fighting with your own skills, you fucking ass," said a voice that was most certainly not Samus. "A coward like you doesn't deserve any power at all if you fight this way all the time, dude."

Captain Falcon appeared directly behind Nergal, with Samus in his hands. Nergal's eyes widened as he turned around.

"Y…You… How are you… still alive?"

"Huh… Well I was just pretending to shriek in pain when you electrocuted me," said Captain Falcon, smirking. "My suit is part rubber, so of course I'm immune. And how I escaped those shackles? Easy. Darkness. And the room is completely dark, Nergal. You have no chance of winning. Your traps may work on Samus, but not me."

"No… No…" Nergal found this to be true.

"About to run? I'll give you three seconds. Three seconds to try running from me." Captain Falcon held up three fingers. "Three…" Nergal's eyes widened in shock.

"Two…" He lowered his right thumb. Nergal spun on the spot, teleporting.

"One…" He lowered his right middle finger. Nergal appeared directly beside the door and began running.

"Too late. You're too slow." Captain Falcon immediately tossed Samus several feet into the air, and then in an instant, he appeared directly in front of Nergal.

Fending for himself, Nergal cried, "Ereshkigal!" The spell didn't come out though!

"Did you forget? I control darkness."

Captain Falcon brought his right arm back. Nergal attempted to teleport again, but he noticed that dark hands were pinning his feet to the ground! Nergal couldn't move any longer, as more arms kept his body in place.

"F…Falcon punch?" Nergal asked, quivering.

"No, but something that guarantees a kill. I've never shown this move to anyone, and I don't plan on explaining how it works to a damn coward like you."

"But… We have all of… your tactics…"

"Psh, that's what you think. BULLET PUNCH!" Falcon's right hand shot forward at the speed of light, striking Nergal's chest. His body didn't move at all. In fact, from the outside, nothing seemed to have happened. Nergal looked up at Falcon with a questioning, frightened look. Suddenly, he closed his eyes, and his head leaned forward. Nergal was dead.

Falcon immediately dashed underneath Samus and caught her body. "Samus babe, we're done here for now. I've gotta look for Pit, and we've gotta get back to that Crimea place to catch up with the other dudes. We've got a damn king to take out."


	80. Chapter 80: The Battle for Crimea

Hack: First chapter of the big fight! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 80: The Battle for Crimea**

Two gray-armored soldiers were standing in front of a large drawbridge. Each one of them held a javelin each, guarding the entrance.

"When do you suppose they're coming?" One asked.

"Not sure, but we're to follow Ashnard's orders."

"Ah. I wonder why he stuck us low guards here? We hardly passed the tests either, and we were placed on the lowest branch of the troops…"

One of the soldiers suddenly looked excited. "Wait… If this is such an important mission, yet Ashnard put us both here to guard this gate from the Crimeans, then they must be weaklings or he must see something in us!"

"No, the king isn't like that. He probably… Wait. He isn't that kind of king. He's some evil… He probably wanted to get us out of the way, and have our enemies break in. He's just mad like that…"

"Ha! You must be joking! I know all the talents that…"

TWANG!

TWANG!

Two arrows were shot, and there were two loud thuds. The ground trembled violently. Suddenly, a huge stampede of humans rushed out of nowhere from the woods and began smashing on the closed door with all kinds of weapons. In a few seconds, the door was blasted open and everyone rushed through, following Ike. Ike's powerful mercenaries plowed through all of the Daien soldiers with ease, none taking any major injuries. Yes, they were that awesome.

After an instant, everyone, including the smashers, entered a large, wide courtyard.

"A courtyard?" Ike asked Princess Elincia. She nodded in response.

"Hey! Is that Ashnard?" asked Roy, pointing at a large black dragon carrying a well-armored man.

Ashnard's dragon landed directly in front of Ike and Elincia. He had very short blue hair. He wore black armor over his upper body, and his lower body was covered with a blue cloak.

"Ha! The princess!" He glowered at Elincia, who was staring back with determination. "I've had much fun killing your parents!"

Elincia simply stood there, silent.

"Hard to believe that you're that same runt who stood there, crying."

"You… craven! I came here to defeat you! To see you defeated! I will not allow you to treat Crimea any way you please any longer!"

"Ah, but I'm not interested in you…" Ashnard shoved Elincia away. "You must be the one that they claim to be Son of Gawain."

"So what if I am? Ashnard, we're taking back Crimea right here, right now," said Ike as he brandished the Ragnell threateningly.

"Oh? Son of Gawain then? Well do not disappoint me. I have handpicked my best soldiers here, so if you can pass them then… We'll have lots of fun!" Ashnard immediately flew off to the opposite side of the courtyard, which looked miles away.

"What are we going to do?" Elincia asked Ike.

"Simple. We just fight on. Leave Ashnard to me, only my weapon can damage him. Everyone, go!!!"

All of Ike's mercenaries split apart, taking various different routes to take on Ashnard's best soldiers. The smashers themselves (Luigi, Fox, Jigglypuff, Link, Ganondorf, and Roy) sped past all of the soldiers, only attacking those in the way. They were following Ike, who was running at the other end.

As Ike passed a junction, the smashers were suddenly stopped by a white heavily-armored general, who stood there, blocking the way.

"I have sworn my life to protect King Ashnard…" the general said, taking out a large sword. "No matter how berserk he is, even though he has killed his own parents… I cannot allow you to pass!"

CLANG!

Link blocked the sword. Fox frowned.

"Hey, I want to fight someone more powerful for once, Link!" Fox cried as he drew his staff. Link shrugged, then he rolled to the side and ran towards the other end. The other smashers took this chance to pass the general.

"A fox? Ashnard informed me of the strange aliens that have joined our enemy's ranks. Let us have a meaningful duel. My name is Bryce."

"Okay. My name is Fox, nice to meet you Bryce," Fox said, smirking. His staff suddenly split into two; He has entered Level Two, Brave Form without crying it.

Bryce acted first. He swung his sword vertically down at Fox, who nimbly dodged. The sword left a deep crack in the concrete ground. Fox was right behind Bryce when the general swung his sword around him. Fox was forced to jump over it; he also jumped over the general, swinging both staffs at the general. Both left small scratch marks on the sturdy armor.

"Ha! Taste the steel of my Wishblade!" Bryce cried as he swung horizontally as Fox fell. He immediately deflected the sword with his own staffs.

"I'll have to test my new strength on this guy…" said Fox.

"Test your new strength?"

"The reason why I wanted to fight someone worth fighting. You'll be my experiment for the day, unfortunately."

"Ex… Experiment?"

Fox's staffs glowed yellow. "_Level Three…_"

* * *

Ike already reached Ashnard before the others. The smashers were smart enough to stay away from him at the moment. Ike brandished his golden Ragnell at Ashnard, who was smirking.

The king drew his Gurgurant, which rivaled the Ragnell in size.

"Heh… You've done well to grow so strong, Son of Gawain."

"Quite," Ike replied. "I've grown stronger to defeat you and reclaim Crimea!"

"Hmph. I finally found a man worth my blade. Enjoy my might!"

CLANG!

Ike jumped into the air above Ashnard and swung his sword down, which was blocked by The Gurgurant. Ashnard pushed Ike away, who was sent flying into the stonewall.

Ike grunted as he got back on his feet.

"Is this all you have to offer? Do not disappoint me," said Ashnard, looking more intimidating while on his mounted black wyvern.

"Not yet…" Ike dashed up the stairs to meet with Ashnard once again.

CLANG! SHING!

They were both in a heated match, and Luigi, Jigglypuff, Link, Roy, and Ganondorf were watching in awe.

"Look how fast he moves that sword!" Link gasped. "Even I can't move my own sword that fast!"

"Have you tried lifting the Ragnell?" asked Ganondorf. "I can hardly lift that, and my own axe is heavy enough."

Ike was jumping over Ashnard; he was everywhere. Ashnard was simply sitting on his mount, blocking all of Ike's attacks and occasionally throwing his own blow at the speedy Ike, who blocked as well. However, these blows usually caused Ike to lose his balance.

"Ashnard's armor is blessed, Ike told me," said Jigglypuff. "So even if he wanted our help, we can't really do anything except get in the way. Only Ike's weapon can damage his armor at the moment."

Roy looked at his own sword. "Maybe you're wrong, Jiggs…" he said. "My Sealed Sword may have been blessed by the same goddesses that blessed Ashnard's armor and Ike's Ragnell."

"Well this is Ike's battle…" said Luigi. _I might be able to say the same about these weapons… I made these out of special material that might be special, but I never checked it. I need to look into these clothes…_

_It feels like there's a new being in them… Threatening to possess me…_

BOOM!

Ike was lying on the ground, the Gurgurant embedded in the ground directly next to his face. A small trickle of blood spilled from the side of his head, but Ike ignored his small wound as he rolled to the side, avoiding another deadly stab from Ashnard. He immediately back flipped away from Ashnard and back on his feet. Taking the defensive now, Ike charged his sword with blue energy.

FOOM!

He swung the Ragnell down, releasing a huge blade of wind at Ashnard. Ashnard retaliated with his own black blade of wind and the two collided, creating a huge invisible explosion of wind. All of the smashers were blown off their feet and onto their backs.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Ike was in a deadlock with Ashnard once more, the Ragnell against the Gurgurant.

"I expected more from you… You have not landed a single blow on me yet!" Ashnard yelled, grinning.

"You'll see soon!" Ike immediately stepped away from Ashnard and he held the Ragnell to his side. He tossed it into the air, and then he disappeared! Ashnard simply grinned as he stood there on top of his wyvern.

"Get ready… My perfected move… _Aether!!!_"

FOOM!

Ike landed directly in front of Ashnard, on top of the wyvern. His sword was in his hands, and there was a huge vertical gash on Ashnard's front. He immediately jumped up again, swinging his sword upwards and piercing through the armor.

Ike flipped in the air, spinning his sword. "For the finishing blow…" He muttered. Ashnard held up his sword in defense. Ike disappeared once more! He appeared directly behind Ashnard, holding his heavy sword behind him. Ashnard looked at his chest, which was almost cut into two. He turned his head to face Ike.

"Ha… ha… so… This is your power… Son of Gawain…" He muttered, breathing heavily. "But I have… more… Lehran's medallion…"

Ike was panting heavily, looking up at Ashnard, who was glowing black. Suddenly, Ashnard's wounds were instantly healed! His sword was glowing with a black aura as well. His armor glowed with a red aura.

He had the power of Lehran's medallion.

"No… No…" Ike gasped. His final trump card had taken away all of his strength.

Ashnard smirked. "I am disappointed." He swatted Ike away with the blunt side of his sword, sending him flying into another stonewall. "Come back after ten years, once you have improved!"

"So I guess this is my cue!" Roy cried as he jumped in, releasing a fully-charged Flare Blade.

KABOOM!

Ashnard was blown away himself, finally showing an expression of pain. He crashed into the center of the wall behind him, blood flowing everywhere.

"Ah… Who is this… Another blessed weapon that can face the power of Lehran's Medallion…" said Ashnard.

"The name is Roy. Son of Eliwood, Prince of Pherae!" Roy bellowed. "For now I'm taking over for Ike because he isn't relying on some crazy power like your Medallion."

"Tell me…" said Ashnard, smiling as he stood up without his wyvern. "The name of your sword…"

"The Sealed Sword, and it'll be the last time you'll see it," said Roy as he charged at Ashnard. The Sealed Sword left behind a trail of fire in the air as Roy swung it down on Ashnard.

For a heavily armored man, Ashnard was surprisingly fast; faster than the Black Knight. He spun once to the side, narrowly avoiding the fire blade, and then he whirled around Roy, facing his back. Ashnard threw his Gurgurant down at Roy, who turned around and blocked it with his sword.

Roy immediately stepped to the side, side-stepping the Gurgurant. He crouched low to duck underneath a horizontal overhead swing, then he poked his sword at Ashnard's foot, making him lose his balance briefly. Roy charged his sword briefly, then released another Flare Blade (though not fully charged). The Sealed Sword melted through Ashnard's armor and through his skin. Ashnard was again blown away. However, he was simply smiling as he got back on his feet. His armor instantly healed!

"You can't face the power in the medallion, Roy…" said Ashnard. "Not even your Sealed Sword can defeat me. Only the Ragnell and other more powerful sources of power can damage me!"

"You're calling my Sealed Sword weak?" Roy angrily muttered, charging at the stationary Ashnard. "I'll show you weak!"

When Roy came up to Ashnard, Ashnard released a powerful vertical slash. He cried, "_Luna!_" as Roy took a familiar stance with his sword and cried, "_Counter!_"

There was a huge explosion. Dust flew everywhere. Nobody could see what had happened to Roy and Ashnard.

Jigglypuff let out a horrifying gasp.

As the smoke began to clear away, one human figure had his sword up. Another shadow of a human was held up by the sword, which was pierced through his stomach. Roy had been stabbed straight through the heart; his counter attack failed to defend against Luna.

"Roy!!!!" Everyone cried as they rushed to Ashnard and Roy. Ashnard swung his sword to the side, causing Roy to slide off of the sword and crash into the wall.

Luigi came to Roy's side first. "Roy! Are you okay? Get up! Wake up! You can't die!"

He held his hand on Roy's wrist; there was still a faint pulse. "Rhys! Anybody with a staff! Get over here!"

But no cleric was available. The blood on Roy's chest began to blacken as Roy's eyes faintly opened.

"Come on! Strength, Roy! Just wait until Captain Falcon comes! Then he'll tell you about Samus!"

Roy coughed. "Heh… Samus… I never got to see her face… I'll try… Try… getting a cleric…"

"Don't worry, I will. Don't you dare die," said Luigi as he sped off through the battlefield.

Ashnard stood towering over Jigglypuff, Link, and Ganondorf. "So pathetic. Nobody worth my sword. So… you are the ones that the Ring of Darkness has informed me about… The smashers…"

Link drew his sword. "Well all we'll have to do is stall until Ike can wake up again!" He began to charge until Ganondorf blocked Link's path with his axe.

"Let me handle him," said Ganondorf. "He already said there are other powers that are more powerful than Lehran's Medallion that can defeat him."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" asked Jigglypuff.

"This…" Ganondorf held out his left hand, and the triforce sign glowed on the back of his hand.

"The Triforce of Power? I thought we sealed away the Triforce to make sure nobody takes advantage of it! Why…"

"Do you think I'm going to use it for evil right now?" asked Ganondorf. "In case something like this happened, I went through the Chamber of Sages and the Light Temple to release the power, so I can face whatever enemy I can help defeat!"

Link stared at Ganondorf in disbelief. "I don't approve of this but… I'm watching you, Ganondorf. You better make sure it was worth it."

Ganondorf turned completely black as he grew. Link and Jigglypuff both took a step back. The sky darkened as lightning crashed everywhere. Ashnard simply stood there, smirking.

"Ah, so someone else believes he is worthy of my blade…"

Ganondorf held a huge axe in each hand. He grew a pair of horns on his forehead and his face resembled that of a pig. He now towered over Ashnard, about three times taller.

Ganondorf was now Ganon.

"**We'll see what's more powerful**," said Ganon. "**The Triforce of Power or the Lehran's Medallion!**"

"This should be interesting!" Ashnard smirked as he raised the Gurgurant.

* * *

Fox stepped away from Bryce, transforming back into his original form. Bryce was already killed within seconds.

"Phew… Takes a lot of energy from me…" said Fox. "But at least now I know it works well…" He looked in the direction of Ashnard miles away and noticed the darkening clouds. "What's going on? I have to go…"

Suddenly he was stopped by Luigi. "Fox…" Luigi panted. "Roy… About to die… We need… Rhys…"

"What? Roy? Rhys is just back there, but what happened? He's about to die?"

Luigi sped off once again, but Fox stopped him. "Wait. I'm faster than you on foot," said Fox. "I'll get Rhys, you go ahead and hold off Ashnard."


	81. Chapter 81: True Power

Hack: Hey, I need to properly apologize for the severe lack of updates. Tons of crap in my life, and fanfiction really wasn't the most important thing in my life over the summer. However, I'll try to update more and more often now! I can't update as much as last year because junior year is starting for me (and killing me), but I promise I won't disappoint!

I've also been busy with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and I'll be sure to implement these hyper mode thingies very soon!

That very soon might come sooner than you think…

* * *

**Chapter 81: True Power**

The colossal Ganon towered over the human-sized Ashnard, who was still without his wyvern, and didn't seem like he will return to it any time soon.

Ganon had two huge axes, each larger than any human in the area. They also looked like they weighed over several tons. His tailed flashed bright yellow and his face resembled that of a demon pig.

"Ha ha ha! Excellent! Let's see if you are a match for the Gurgurant!" Ashnard cried as he raised his sword in a defensive position.

Ganon swung both axes down vertically, which Ashnard blocked with his monstrous strength and his sword. Ashnard swung his sword against the axes, pushing the towering Ganon stumbling away.

"You cannot match the demon in Lehran's Medallion!" Ashnard cried as he somehow towered over the laying Ganon. The beast lifted himself back on his feet again, the clouds darkening and lightning striking the arena. Thunder roared as the two demons faced each other again.

Ganon simply roared in response as he swung his mighty axe again, this time charged with dark energy. Ashnard blocked it with his Gurgurant again, but he slid back from the force of Ganon's axe. Ashnard swiftly jumped back to avoid the axe, creating several feet of distance between them, but Ganon simply took one gigantic step forward to corner Ashnard instantly. He swung his axe again through the castle wall, and Ashnard jumped miles high, over Ganon, and landed behind Ganon. The castle walls crumbled as Ganon whirled around at lightning speeds, at a speed that no one could expect a huge monster to reach.

Ashnard jumped into the air again and swung his sword at Ganon's chest, blue blood flowing out from the wound. Ganon did not seem harmed at all though! Ganon grabbed Ashnard, ignoring his wound, and threw Ashnard forward. Ashnard flew literally miles away, and instantly out of sight!

* * *

Fox finally found his target in the battlefields of lush grass: Rhys, the stave user and healer of Ike's mercenaries.

"Rhys!" Fox cried out, running after the white-cloaked priest. Rhys was kneeling over another soldier of the mercenaries, who had a deep gash wound in his chest.

"Stay still!" Rhys cried out. "You shouldn't be moving any longer! I will call Mist to get you really quick!" He turned to see Fox. "Fox!"

"Rhys… It's Roy! Luigi told me that Roy's been injured… Close to death!"

Rhys's eyes widened. "Take me to him. Now."

Suddenly, a dark figure came flying through the skies at several miles per hour. Fox and Rhys followed it with their eyes to see it disappear just as suddenly as it appeared.

* * *

"Wow… That's some incredible throwing power…" Jigglypuff said, wide-eyed.

"Where did Ashnard go?" asked Luigi as he came running into the scene. "Fox is bringing Rhys; he runs a lot faster than me." He suddenly looked up to see the towering Ganon who stood there like a statue. "Holy…"

"Calm down! That's not Ashnard!" Link cried out. "It's our Ganondorf, who's been… transformed…"

"Ha ha! You believed I would go down so fast?" Ashnard called out as he flew into the scene on top of his black wyvern. The wyvern flew towards Ganon, swiftly dodging a vertical axe swing. It began flying around Ganon at lightning speeds, so fast that Ganon couldn't turn fast enough to follow it with his eyes. When the wyvern and Ashnard stopped in midair, over a dozen gigantic gash wounds on Ganon splattered blue blood all over the ground.

Although Ganon was already heavily wounded, he acted as if he was not wounded at all!

"What? I have struck all of your critical points!" Ashnard cried out as he dismounted his wyvern. He brought his sword back, charged it, and cried, "_Luna!_"

Blue energy radiated from the Gurgurant as Ashnard swung it through Ganon. A blue blade of wind hacked through Ganon's stomach, pierced through it, and created a large wound for Ganon. More blood splattered on the ground in front of Ganon, but the demon was still not fazed.

Ganon retaliated by stomping on the ground. Rocks painted with the pavement on the sidewalk flew at Ashnard, who slashed each one away effortlessly. Ashnard began walking towards Ganon, throwing several blue wind blades at Ganon, each of them hitting. Ganon ignored the slashes and swung his axes down, forcing Ashnard further back.

When Ashnard got another close look at Ganon, however, he noticed something…

He pointed his sword up directly at Ganon's forehead, where there was a yellow jewel embedded. Ashnard then released a blade of darkness at it, making a direct hit. Ganon stumbled, grunting and blinded.

He then opened his eyes again. "**Sorry, Darkness won't hurt me**"

"Ah, so if it's not darkness…" Ashnard said. "Then how about light? My weapon has been blessed by the goddesses, and with the power of Lehran's Medallion, anything is feasible!"

BAM!

Ganon roared in pain as Ashnard released a beam of light through the sword, directly piercing through the jewel. Ashnard rushed in to get a closer aim at the jewel, but Ganon wouldn't let him. He spun around on the spot immediately, swinging his tail. It struck Ashnard in the stomach and sent him flying several feet. Ashnard immediately got back on his feet, but that time was enough to bring Ganon back into battle.

"That point on your forehead seems to be your weakness…" said Ashnard. "But judging from your retaliation, it must only stun you briefly."

"**You catch on quickly. I'll show you something that you haven't seen yet…**"

Ganon pointed his axe at Ashnard, then the blade immediately shot out from the handle! Ashnard was too caught off guard to block or dodge, and he took the full blow of the giant axe in the face!

"Yes! He's dead!" Link cried.

Ashnard smiled. The Axe blade was on his nose, but there seemed to be no visible cut!

"I told you," said Ashnard. "The demon is more powerful than your source of power. You cannot make any cut on me!"

Ganon immediately shot his other axe at Ashnard, but it clanged off harmlessly off of his face as Ashnard continued to approach Ganon. He shot another beam of light at Ganon's jewel, who couldn't dodge due to his size, and Ganon stumbled once more.

"Ha ha! I seem to have found it!"

Ashnard immediately dashed around Ganon to find the glowing tail. He raised his Gurgurant and threw it down, slicing the tip of it off. Ganon roared in pain again as he flashed white instantly, and he began shrinking, blood beginning to spurt everywhere once more. Soon he was in the form of Ganondorf again, defeated and unconscious like Ike.

"No way…" Luigi muttered. "Ganon… defeated?"

"The Triforce is defenseless against the Lehran's Medallion?" Link gaped at Ashnard who was smirking, still completely unharmed in this fight.

"So… Who else wants to play?" Ashnard asked, about to swing his Gurgurant at the three remaining smashers.

CLANG!

Ashnard looked down at his chest to see a hole burned in it. He looked up to see another yellow arrow, this time aimed at his face.

CLANG!

The light arrow struck Ashnard's nose, but it did not harm him at all. Pit emerged from the sky, looking confused.

"What? The Bow of the Goddesses should be enough to defeat him!" Pit exclaimed.

"You're not weak, Pit," said another familiar voice. "It's just that you don't possess a more powerful source of power…"

Samus emerged out of nowhere, right between Luigi and Jigglypuff.

"Samus!" they both cried.

"Long time no see. Nergal's dead, thanks to…"

"The sexy me!!!" Captain Falcon appeared in the middle of the smashers, posing into the air with a shimmering smile. "Nobody can defeat… Wha…"

He finally saw what Ashnard had done. Ganondorf and Ike were down and still unconscious, but most importantly, he saw Roy heavily wounded. Blood constantly gushed out from the chest, even though a bandage was wrapped around it. He immediately rushed to Roy.

"Roy! Hey buddy! Get the hell up!" Captain Falcon slapped Roy's face as Roy groaned.

"Ah… You…" Roy muttered, smiling. "At least I get to see my partner once more…"

"No way! You're not going to fucking die on me!" Falcon cried. "Get the hell up! Don't you wanna see the gals? I've seen Samus's face before!"

"Ha… How is it?"

"Sexy!"

Roy laughed. The others couldn't hear them except Samus, who was kind enough to stay quiet, despite her rising temper. "So I'm guessing… You've been having fun… Right…?"

"Definitely, but… You gotta get up! You're a prince! Your nation is counting on you dude!"

"No…" Roy muttered, coughing. "This is the end… That blade is no normal blade… One direct hit… No cure…"

"No! There has to be a way to get you back!"

"No healing stave… can cure this… I just know it… Getting Rhys… is pointless…"

"Roy… Get up! It's not the end!"

"Captain Falcon… I'm glad to have known you… Thanks…" Roy smiled as his hand began to grow limp.

"Roy! Roy!!! Get up!"

Roy closed his eyes. His hand fell to the ground. He was gone.

Captain Falcon was silent. He stood up and turned around to face Ashnard, his fists burning with fire.

"You have no fucking clue who you're dealing with, are you?" he asked Ashnard angrily. "Because you're messin' with us smashers!" He disappeared, then he reappeared in front of Ashnard and released a powerful flaming punch into the face.

Ashnard was not damaged. He was simply smiling.

"You're too weak!" Ashnard cried, swatting Captain Falcon away with the sword. Falcon flew into the walls, blood already trickling.

"Falcon!" Samus cried as she ran to his side. "I saw… About Roy…"

"Stay out of it… He's mine, damn it…"

Samus shook her head. "No matter what you can do, you can't defeat him. You don't have an ultimate power. The Triforce couldn't defeat him, and the only weapon we have capable of defeating him is out of commission. We have one other choice."

"Oh yeah… What's that?"

"I'll be sure to make him pay for what he did to Roy. I have the Endowment of Exigency." Samus stood straight and turned to Ashnard. "Ten seconds," she said. "Ten seconds. I won't attack for ten seconds straight."

"Ah… Are you mocking me? That may be a fatal mistake for you…" said Ashnard. "You will see true power soon!"

Samus closed her eyes as Ashnard dashed to her. He swung horizontally, but Samus immediately transformed into a ball and stayed there. Ashnard changed the direction of his sword and stabbed downwards, but Samus boosted away quickly, transforming back.

"You have the worst accuracy ever, Ashnard," said Samus. "Five seconds left."

"You have not seen anything yet!" Ashnard pointed his sword at Samus and fired another beam of light. Samus jumped in the air, turning into a sphere of energy; she activated her screw attack. The beam of light deflected into the air, flying to who knows where.

"Ten seconds is up. Say your prayers, Ashnard."

Samus's suit immediately transformed into silver. "_Ren Kiu! _Followed by…" Her shoulder pads turned rectangular and the joints of her suit released an aura of blue light. "_Hyper Mode!!!_"

Samus immediately pointed at Ashnard and released over several hundred hyper missiles at him at almost every angle! Ashnard had nowhere to run, and he can only stand there in the huge explosion of phazon. Missiles continued to explode, releasing phazon everywhere. By the time the explosions cleared out, Ashnard's armor was almost deteriorated. Half of his face was practically gone, but his sword was still intact.

"Wha… What is… This?" he coughed.

"The Endowment of Exigency is apparently stronger than your lame little medallion. Poor baby needs some more power?"

"I… will not be mocked by you!" Ashnard literally threw his sword at Samus, releasing several blades of wind! Samus transformed into a ball, allowing it to pass over her, then she disappeared.

"Wh… what?"

Samus appeared directly behind Ashnard in morph ball form. Suddenly, Ashnard screamed. Several bolts of phazon flew from Samus and struck Ashnard, continuously zapping his insides with phazon. After a few seconds, Samus boosted away and out of sight.

"You… Coward!" Ashnard cried as coughed out not blood but… phazon?

Samus appeared directly in front of Ashnard. "Had enough yet?" she asked as she plunged her left arm into his stomach. Ashnard screamed again, then he looked ahead to see the Gurgurant ahead. He smiled as he lifted his finger, the Gurgurant levitating in the air.

"This attack… Will overflow you with phazon," said Samus, not noticing the sword pointing at her and about to fly at her. "_Hyper Grapple!_"

She released her violent grapple beam into Ashnard's stomach, just as the sword struck her from behind. The sword pierced through her entire suit and emerged through her chest, but Ashnard couldn't smile. Samus forced phazon through her grappling beam and directly into Ashnard's body. Ashnard began shaking uncontrollably, his eyes turning blue. Soon, his body exploded, sending nothing but phazon everywhere.

Samus kneeled down, deactivating hyper mode. She plunged the sword out of her chest and the wound instantly healed. Finally, she deactivated her Ren Kiu, transforming back into her Varia Suit. She fell to the ground, lying there.

"Samus! That was crazy!" Luigi cried, running to her. Jigglypuff stopped him.

"She's asleep," she said. "That must've taken lots out of her. No matter how perverted Roy was, she must've been really angry."

"But… Both Ashnard and Nergal are defeated!" Link cried. "Now we need to wait for Ike to get up… And what about Ganondorf?"

"I'm here!" Fox cried as he came into the scene with Rhys trailing behind him. "Where's Roy?"

Everyone was silent. Captain Falcon appeared in the scene again with his blistering speed, frowning. Fox did not need to know, judging from the lack of greetings from Samus, Captain Falcon, and Pit.

"…I see…"

"When do you think… We can hold a funeral?" asked Captain Falcon.

"We'll have to do it in Pherae, where Roy was the prince of. We need to inform Eliwood as well," said Luigi.

"How soon?" Falcon asked again.

"…We can't go back until Ike and Elincia make a direct address to Crimea," said Link. "I'm sorry, Falcon… I know how close you were to Roy…"

Captain Falcon said nothing. He immediately disappeared on the spot.

"Wait, where did he go?" asked Fox.

"Leave him be," said Luigi. "He lost someone special. Let him be alone for a while."


	82. Chapter 82: An Urgent Destination

Hack: This chapter may seem a tad rushed, but it's rushed for a good reason: to show how urgent things will become, as you shall soon see.

Another arc is going to begin next chapter, one that you should all be looking forward to…

Let me give you a hint. Fox, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff will be having their final fights once and for all, and Luigi will be having a bit of an interesting fight…

Enjoy this transition!

* * *

**Chapter 82: An Urgent Destination**

Samus was in her ship back in Pherae, fiddling with the controls. She leaned back on her chair, moving the deactivated thrusters back and forth.

"What are you doing up here?" Jigglypuff asked as she came in the room. "The others are all back with Ike, and they're about done."

"I don't like big crowds. What about you?"

"Me? Hmmmm…" Jigglypuff pondered for a second. "I guess… It's awkward to be so different from humans… And being the only… Yes."

"Mmmm."

"Where did you learn to transform like that?"

"Oh, Hyper Mode? It's a PED Suit I obtained when Dark Samus corrupted my old suit with Phazon. Part of my blood still has Phazon in it, but I hardly ever use it any more…"

"…Did you tell Eliwood?"

Samus shook her head. "No, I think Fox would handle it best."

Suddenly, there was a loud beeping noise on Samus's computer. She whirled around and stared at the screen on the motherboard.

"…Jigglypuff!"

"What?"

"Bring Pit over here! Now!"

"What? Why?"

* * *

"Stay here a little! You need rest!" Ike cried as Luigi, Fox, Captain Falcon, Link, Ganondorf, and Pit were walking away.

"Sorry, but we need to move on," said Fox. "It was really nice meeting you, and I'm really glad that you were able to help the princess take back Crimea."

"After all, who knows what may happen right now?" Luigi added. "We really can't afford to lose time."

"I see. Well, I hope I can see you guys again then! Thank you for all of your help!" Ike cried, waving.

"It was nice meeting you!" Link called out. Ganondorf didn't turn as he began walking back with Luigi and Fox.

Jigglypuff came rushing into the magnificent hall way of Castle Crimea. "Everyone… Pit…" she gasped.

"Excuse me? What has happened?" asked Pit.

"Your planet… It's exploded…" Jigglypuff panted, the effects of Agility wearing off.

* * *

All of the smashers went to Samus's ship as soon as possible. The only stop they made was at Castle Pherae, where Luigi and Fox briefly explained to Eliwood…

_"I'm sorry…" Fox said. "Roy's been killed… By Ashnard…"_

_Eliwood simply sat in the chair, closing his eyes. "…We will need a proper funeral. I knew this would happen one day with his recklessness…"_

"_He was a great fighter," said Luigi. "And a great man. We've known him for a while, but I think one of our other friends would be able to talk to you about him more explicitly…"_

_Captain Falcon appeared in the room. "Dude, Eliwood!"_

"_Ah, It's you!"_

"_Yeah… About Roy…" Captain Falcon was about to say something, but his throat couldn't make any noise._

_Fox and Luigi left the room without a word as Falcon finally said something. "…You really don't want to clean out Roy's room…" he said. "I'll take that honor."_

"_Excuse me? What are you talking…"_

_"It's to defend his honor. You seriously don't want to know. And I'm sorry." Captain Falcon sped off in another second without another word, leaving Eliwood there to ponder._

Samus's ship already took off into space once more. All but Samus were sitting in the main corridor.

"…So… Are you saying… My planet… has been destroyed?" asked Pit, his voice beginning to shake.

Jigglypuff nodded. "It's… It must've been the Ring of Darkness…"

"So they're finally on the move…" said Ganondorf. "We need to return to Hyrule, Young Link."

"What? Why me? Older Link is…"

"It will be attacked soon. I know more of their plans than you do, Link."

"Wait, what are they doing?" asked Fox. "Tell me."

"…It's upon the master's orders. Eliminate all weak planets, and keep the strong."

"…I will see you all… Later…" said Pit as he approached the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Luigi.

"…I need to see… What has truly happened." He opened the ceiling hatch.

"Wait! Let us come with…" Fox started.

"No. Let him go alone," said Jigglypuff. "We can't pry into his privacy."

"…Thank you. I have been truly blessed to have met you all…" said Pit as he flew out.

Everyone was silent. Although Nergal was finally defeated, things are starting to turn for the worse.

"Samus!" Fox called out. "Set a course for Hyrule! We're dropping off Ganondorf and Link!"

"…Got that!"

The rest of the day went without words. Everyone was silent for the entire day until they arrived at Hyrule on top of the Temple of Time.

* * *

Everything was restored and much more peaceful. The forests were finally green, and although the main castle town wasn't completely restored, the citizens were making progress in rebuilding.

"I'll have to set up the Gerudos soon, so I'll be seeing you later," said Ganondorf as he jumped off of the Temple of Time.

"I'll have to check up on the chamber of sages with the Triforce," said Young Link. "It'll take too much time. Things have been too crazy recently…"

"All right then, good luck!" said Jigglypuff. She was the only one who left the ship to say good bye; the four others were not in the mood. She hopped back into the ship to greet the others.

"Hey. They're gone?" asked Fox, leaning back on the wall.

"Yeah, they're gone… We can take off now, but we need to decide where to go now…"

"…I remember Metaknight's message to Fox," said Luigi. "That we'll all meet in the Dream Den."

"The Dream Den? We need to put an end to this as soon as possible," said Fox. "After what happened to Pit's world, I don't think we want another world destroyed."

"I have some interesting information," said Samus as she came into the room. "I set the ship on auto-pilot by the way."

"Okay. Throw it out, dude," said Captain Falcon, leaning on the electric table nearby.

"My suit finally installed the power level scanner for all living forms," Samus explained. "And… I have those numbers for all of us and the Ring of Darkness members we encountered."

"Tell us about it," said Luigi. "We might as well know how close we are to them."

"Okay. The average man without any special powers has a level of fifty. Fox, your current level reaches 2600."

"So… That's a good thing I'm guessing…" said Fox.

"With your Brave Form, you jump to about four thousand. And Luigi, your current level is about mid three-thousands."

"No complaints there…" said Luigi.

Samus continued. "Captain Falcon, I hate to say it little guy but…"

"I'm just too sexy to mention, right?"

BOOM

"No, your level is about 2500 with your current skills."

"What? I'm weaker than both Luigi and Fox? How about Jiggs?"

"She's about mid three-thousands too."

"Noooooooooooooo!!!!! I'm just… sad!"

"You've been sad about Roy," joked Luigi.

Captain Falcon instantly sulked in the corner with a dark aura around him.

"Um… Sorry… I shouldn't mentioned it…" Luigi apologized.

"What about your levels, Samus?" asked Jigglypuff.

Samus stopped. "When I calculated my own… with both Ren Kiu and Hyper Mode… The system crashed."

"Whoa! That means… you can probably take on the entire Ring of Darkness!" Fox exclaimed. "I wish I was that strong!"

"Wait, I have the levels of our enemies too. I even have their levels with Ren Kiu, except Black Shadow since none of us have seen him use it yet thanks to Jigglypuff's skills."

Jigglypuff blushed.

"So… Alex's power with Ren Kiu was about three-thousand, just for your information. Wolf without Ren Kiu reaches only about 1800…"

"But I couldn't own him!" Falcon cried.

"Hang on. With Ren Kiu, he jumps to 6500."

The room was silent.

"Wait, isn't Wolf right above Alex?" asked Luigi. "Then why is he so much darn stronger than Alex? I can only imagine how Black Shadow and Metaknight are…"

"Black Shadow isn't that bad…" said Samus. "As far as I know. Without Ren Kiu, his power is about three-thousand, so Jigglypuff can defeat him without Ren Kiu. I have no clue about when he unleashes it though, so you'll need to guess on that. As for Metaknight…"

Fox leaned forward.

"Without Ren Kiu, he reaches six-thousand. With it…"

This time, everyone else leaned forward as well.

"His power level goes higher than ten-thousand."

"Holy… shit…" said Fox. "That is absolutely… Insane."

"According to my data…" said Samus. "I can take on all three at the same time, but…"

"No, we're not letting you do that," Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Fox all said simultaneously.

"I'm guessing you guys need to train a lot to catch up," said Luigi.

"No, we just have stuff that we haven't shown yet…" said Captain Falcon. "We're savin' that stuff for the true fights, dude!"

"Okay, Samus," said Luigi. "I need you to search up Dream Den in the universal internet."

"On it." Samus ran off to the computer, disappearing from sight.

"This'll take a while. You wanna go for another traditional battle, Fox?" asked Captain Falcon.

"Geez, it's been so long since I fought you," said Fox. "How long has it been, like… Since before we started all this stuff?"

"Yep, during the prologue!"

"…What prologue?"

"Never mind, dude! Let's just go!"

* * *

"**This will be a three-stock match between Fox and Captain Falcon on the Final Destination with no items. Ready… Go!**"

"Only smasher abilities, right?" asked Fox.

"Of course, dude! I'll be sure to own you this time!"

Fox jumped towards Captain Falcon, firing his blaster to rack up the damage a little. When Fox landed, Captain Falcon was right in front of him, smashing Fox's face with his electric knee. Fox fell to the ground a few feet away, at which point Falcon short-hopped again and smashed his feet down on Fox's body. Fox flew up a few more feet, where Falcon short hopped and used the knee again.

Fox barely flew off the ledge, so he was able to grab the ledge with an instant midair jump. Captain Falcon was over Fox, about to smash his feet to spike Fox down, but Fox immediately dropped from the ledge, jumped in midair, and wavedashed onto the stage. He did it so fast that he slid directly through Falcon's legs. Falcon jumped to grab the ledge, just to see Fox spike him off with his reflector.

Falcon used a Falcon Dive to reach the ledge, but Fox swiftly jumped off to shine him again!

KABOOM!

Remaining lives for Fox were three. Two for Captain Falcon.

"Is that all you've got?" Fox asked as Falcon appeared on the regeneration platform.

"I'm only gettin' started, yo!" Falcon replied as he dropped to the ground and sped at Fox. He short hopped at Fox, who was expecting another knee or spike, so Fox wavedashed backwards to increase the distance.

Unfortunately for him, Falcon feigned the attack and didn't attack at all! Before Fox could react, Captain Falcon shot his flaming arm forward and sent Fox upwards with an uppercut! Captain Falcon immediately performed a short-hopped flip kick, sending Fox forward even further ahead. He juggled Fox again with this maneuver while chasing after Fox's flying body. When Fox was off of the stage, Falcon jumped off, flip-kicked Fox away, and then jumped in midair, releasing a powerful knee. Fox was sent flying to the side and lost his first stock as Falcon barely reached the ledge with his Falcon Dive.

Fox was lowered on the stage again and he sped at Captain Falcon. Falcon jumped backwards, barely dodging a powerful upwards ground flip kick from Fox. Falcon retaliated with another Raptor Boost, but Fox crouched underneath it, sweeping his tail to trip Falcon. Fox then grabbed Falcon.

"Fancy seeing you here!" Fox said, smiling. Falcon scowled.

Fox kneed Captain Falcon twice, then he threw Falcon into the air, shooting two lasers from his blaster at the racer. Neither shot caused Falcon to flinch, allowing Falcon to fall to the ground, unable to recover quick enough to dodge another grab.

Fox repeated this maneuver: he kneed Falcon a couple times then threw him upwards.

"Enjoy being chain-throwed?" asked Fox.

"Oh shut up!"

Fox grabbed Falcon for the fifth time, then realized that this throw would allow Falcon to dodge because his damage meter was too high. As a result, Fox dropped Falcon, sat on top of Falcon, then shot his blaster downwards at Falcon. He immediately used his reflector to zap Captain Falcon, pushing him a few feet and stunning him.

You know what's coming…

Fox wavedashed forward, then shined Falcon, then wavedashed, then shined Falcon, then wavedashed, then shined Falcon again! Fox wavedashed once more but instead of shining Falcon, he used his powerful upwards flip kick again, sending Falcon flying into the sky. Falcon was flying in the background and turned into nothing but a star.

"Come on!" Fox used his trademark taunt as he leaned back. "Bring it!"

"You're getting your usual cockiness back, dude! I like it!" Captain Falcon commented, dropping from the regeneration platform.

"Ha! Thanks!" Fox fired at Captian Falcon, who began speeding at Fox again. Fox rolled around Captain Falcon to dodge another knee, then he threw his fist forward, jabbing Falcon in the back. He punched Falcon with his other arm then followed with a flurry of upward kicks! Captain Falcon was stunned and stuck in place, repeatedly taking several kicks in the gut.

Unfortunately for Fox, Falcon was pushed away from Fox, releasing him from the attack. As Fox recovered from his rapid kick attacks, Falcon released another raptor boost, sending Fox directly up into the air. He used a well-aimed knee to send Fox forward again, just over the ledge. With his top speed, Falcon reached Fox in midair and threw his feet down on Fox, spiking him into oblivion.

They both had one stock each left.

Fox immediately dropped down, swiftly dashing at Captain Falcon. Falcon anticipated Fox's reflector and rushed forward. He threw his hand forward, out-reaching Fox's reflector, and grabbing Fox by the collar. He threw Fox into the ground, causing him to bounce. When Fox landed, Falcon immediately used another spike attack, sending Fox bouncing from the ground. Because Fox was falling so fast, he would be unable to react until he landed, giving Captain Falcon time for…

"Falcooooooooon… PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!!"

BOOM!

Fox was sent flying. Unfortunately for Captain Falcon, Fox didn't take much damage at all, and he barely survived. Fox immediately grabbed the ledge after a midair jump and return to the main platform.

"Wow… If I had a few more damage points, I would be dead," said Fox. "Good game…"

"So we're tied now then, dude?"

"We'll see who wins!"

Fox ran at Captain Falcon, who started a short hop. Fox charged his upwards smash attack, the upwards ground flip kick, while Falcon drew his knee back…

BOOM!

Falcon was sent flying into the sky and into the background while Fox was sent flying to the side. Fox immediately jumped in midair and used a Fox Phantasm, but he barely missed the ledge and began to fall to his doom. He fell out of bounds at almost the same time Falcon became a star…

* * *

"I hate to admit it, but you won that one, "said Fox. "I took too much damage to survive…"

"Damn straight!" Captain Falcon replied loudly

"Looks like you're back to your usual cocky self too."

"Damn straight!"

They both stood around in the lobby, bored now.

"…Best out of three?" Fox asked.

"You've got it, dude!"

* * *

_What is wrong with me?_

_What is this that I made?_

_I don't know… It feels like I've got something inside me ever since Mario's death…_

_Do I hate him?_

_It's hard to say… I'm still angry…_

_But I don't hate him. Whatever that guy said about hating Mario… He's completely wrong._

…_I'll have to avoid using this until it's absolutely necessary._

* * *

Two days have passed while the smashers were drifting.

Samus came into the lobby room, frowning. "I've got bad news and I've got good news," she said to Luigi and Jigglypuff. The other two were battling each other… again!

"So which one first?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Bad News," said Samus. "It leads to the good news."

"How do bad news lead to good news?" asked Luigi.

"You'll be surprised. Another planet exploded."

Luigi and Jigglypuff's jaws dropped.

"It was a completely peaceful world named Smashville (Animal Crossing if you don't know), so naturally the Ring of Darkness would eliminate them as weak, as Ganondorf already explained their motives."

"…That's… horrible…" said Jigglypuff.

"We need to get to where our enemies are. Samus, did you find anything about the Dream Den?"

"No I didn't, but… I'm getting to the good news. Fortunately the planet that was destroyed was only a few thousand kilometers away. I was able to track down the paths for the Endowment of Exigency with my suit since they were close enough, and it lead to an unknown planet. It's not even in my database."

"Hm… Are you sure there's absolutely nothing?" asked Luigi.

"Well… There's been one report about it. A man named Olimar became shipwrecked on this alien planet, and he hailed from the planet Hocotate. His ship was completely destroyed, but he was able to find the ship pieces with an alien species he named Pikmin. That's all… There's a list of areas that he listed but…"

"Wait, take me to the computer," said Luigi.

"Sure…" Samus led Luigi into the command room and Luigi typed in the search terms for Hocotate and Pikmin.

"That's the same report that Samus mentioned…" said Jigglypuff.

"Exactly. Now since he has a list of areas… Ah ha!" Luigi pointed at the screen.

"What is it?" asked Samus and Jigglypuff.

"The Wistful Wild… The Dream Den! This must be where their secret base is!" Luigi cried. "Samus, can you locate the coordinates for this?"

"Now that I know the proper area names, yes I can!" Samus replied excitedly. She sat down in her chair and typed on the computer for a second. "Computer, auto-command to the Wistful Wild!"

They were reaching their next destination already… They would reach it in a day at full speed. There, they would have some of the biggest fights that they would ever have…

* * *

**Another Quick Bad-Guy Special!**

Metaknight, Wolf, Alex, and Black Shadow were all reading this chapter above.

"Wait, how am I with Ren Kiu only as strong as Metaknight without it?" Wolf growled.

"Because I'm more powerful than you?" Metaknight responded.

"Argh!"

"Be quiet. I'm not even mentioned," said Alex. "They believe me to be dead. Oh how wrong they are… Once they see me in Weyard…"

Hey! Stop spoiling the story!

"…Fine."

"Yet Samus did not mention my Ren Kiu power…" said Black Shadow.

"Well Jigglypuff **is** stronger than you without the transformation, since she beat you with it," said Metaknight.

"Yeah, punk, I can beat a puffball any day," said Wolf.

"Quiet! You can't beat a gay perverted racer!" Black Shadow angrily replied.

Wolf sulked in the corner, crying to himself.

"Anyways, Dark Samus said that she gathered three different recruits that she commanded before," said Alex. "Just reporting the news."

"Hm, wonder who they are? They'll probably be more capable than Dark Samus herself, seeing that she was defeated by Pit…" said Metaknight.

"So… is this how we always know all of the smasher's plans and abilities that they reveal?" asked Black Shadow.

"Apparently. We read the chapters…" said Wolf. "And then we learn their darn weaknesses. As if I need them… I can murder that pussy any time."

"Wait, we're not supposed to be able to read these chapters…" said Metaknight.

"It's called a plot hole!" Alex answered.

"No, that's not a plot hole, it's just the author being abnormally strange," said Black Shadow.


	83. Chapter 83: The Wistful Wild

Hack: Just to clarify, this is NOT going to be the last arc! It's close though, since the current big three final fights are coming up in this arc. There are two more: one with Alex and a final arc.

Did I mention that the lovable Captain Olimar makes an entrance here? Yes, we all love him.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 83: The Wistful Wild**

"We're going to have to shrink," said Samus.

"Wait, shrink?" asked Luigi.

"Dude, don't you know what shrink means?" asked Captain Falcon.

"…Of course I do, you idiot," Luigi replied.

"Wait, why do we have to shrink?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Is the planet really small or something?" asked Fox. "After all, a really tiny planet is a perfect place to have a hidden base…"

"Which is more the reason why I think that some of the Ring of Darkness members are hiding out there," said Samus. "Yeah, it is a really small planet. My ship has some of the most advanced Chozo technology though, so you don't have to worry about that. I can just shrink this ship to the appropriate size and we'll be able to enter the planet!"

"We'll get there in one day, can the ship manage it?" asked Fox.

"It takes exactly one day for it to shrink," said Samus. "We shrink along with it, so it fits."

"All right, full speed ahead!" cried Fox.

* * *

"It seems like they're finally arriving. It's finally time for me to kill that little gay puss in tights." 

"Heh, you should be excited. I prompted Luigi that Fox will face me one last time here."

"I've given up on that furry pussy. I find this racer much more satisfying to beat to death."

"Ah, but I have not yet used my Ren Kiu yet… Surely that little puffball shall be more of a challenge now."

"Well it seems that we will all need to unleash it at this rate, unless I overestimated Fox. Meanwhile, we will need to finish up the last touches for our master's plans…"

Metaknight looked up to the ceiling as Wolf and Black Shadow continued to operate on the machine, planning out the next planet.

_It seems that our master intends on keeping them alive… I hope that our enemies rescue them. There is a far more dangerous foe than I myself…_

"Excuse me, Metaknight," said Black Shadow. "But Dark Samus wants a word with you…"

* * *

One day has passed by as if nothing happened, and the smashers were prepared for any challenge at all. 

"That's it? How big is the diameter of this planet?" asked Luigi, pointing it out in the window.

Fox looked over Samus's shoulder. "About five kilometers long," he said. "That's pretty darn small. Good thing we're small enough to enter too."

"We're entering the atmosphere right now," said Samus. "My ship's looking for any flat landscape with few bio-forms so it can land safely."

"Wow…" Jigglypuff gasped, looking down through the windows.

It simply looked like a huge world without any human interactions. Plants flourished everywhere, and wherever there weren't plants, there was water or sand. It was just pure nature.

However, the organisms themselves looked different than what you would normally see. Ladybug-like creatures slept on the ground; they would normally reach the size of one's toe, but because of the smashers' shrunken size, these animals were now bigger than Bowser himself (yes, I am comparing with Bowser again).

"So what is this world named?" asked Fox.

"It's unnamed, I'm guessing, since it doesn't exactly appear much on the internet records…" said Luigi.

"…That spot right there looks like a perfect spot for the ship, Samus," Jigglypuff pointed out.

"Wow! It looks like it's meant to be a landing spot!" Captain Falcon shouted, looking at where Jigglypuff was pointing.

They were now above orange ground with lush, colored trees growing everywhere as if it was autumn. There was a small pond beside a spot with several plants carrying colored berries. There were strangely a few large things such as cans and boxes that were now magnified by ten times due to the smashers' shrunken proportions. There were even a few holes with red flags sticking out from each of them.

In the midst of all this, there was a small circular area with three black circles. A perfect landing spot.

Samus lowered the ship down to the large, widened area, and the orange ship landed, hovering a few feet above the ground. The ceiling door opened up as the five smashers jumped out.

"Wait, there's already a ship here…" said Fox. "…Dolphin… That's what it says. I guess that's her name."

"It doesn't seem like a name that the Ring of Darkness would give a ship…" said Jigglypuff. "I guess someone else is here right now?"

"Ship scans indicate that this landing spot is the Wistful Wild," said Samus, looking blankly into space when she really was looking at information shown on her visor. "Yeah, and this area's been named by the owner of the Dolphin…"

"I have a feeling that this owner is this Olimar guy," Luigi added.

"Wait, where's Captain Falcon?" asked Fox.

Everyone looked around. Indeed, the arrogant racer was nowhere in sight.

"He'll be fine," said Samus. "He disappeared on me and Pit back in the dragon place, and he ended up saving my life."

"I bet ya he really enjoyed that…" said Luigi.

"…I think… he was really… angry…" said Samus. "I've never seen him that angry… Until Ashnard killed… you know…"

"Yeah, they were both pretty inseparable back in the days," said Fox.

The four were silent. The wind blew through their ears like a ghoul whistling.

"…So… The Dream Den is our next destination here," said Luigi, breaking the awkward silence. "It's a cave, I know that."

Captain Falcon appeared out of nowhere.

"Where were you?" asked Fox with a disapproving tone. "You keep disappearing out of nowhere. Sometimes I wish you weren't so fast."

"Geez, I was just doing you guys a favor. I've found this little guy," said Captain Falcon, pulling a little man out of nowhere.

He had a large, round pink nose and black dots for his eyes. His head was almost the size of the rest of his body. He wore a glass helmet around his head with an antennae connected to it. He wore black gloves that matched his white suit.

"I'm pleased to meet you," said Olimar. The smashers were surprised by his voice; because of his short height (about as tall as Jigglypuff), they had expected a high-pitched voice, but his voice was very low. "This… Falcon? He told me about what you were doing here…"

"Yeah… Do you know where the Dream Den is?" Samus asked calmly; she did not want to intimidate the little man. "My name is Samus, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Samus," said Olimar, shaking her hand. "Well there's a small problem with that… I have not been to the Wistful Wild for a few years, and my memory needs to be refreshed. I am re-exploring this area to observe the new organisms…"

"It is a cave though, right?" asked Luigi.

Olimar nodded. "And you are…?"

"Luigi. And this puffball is Jigglypuff… And you know Captain Falcon and Samus. This fox is just… Fox McCloud."

"A fox named Fox?" Olimar asked.

"Yeah, I have no clue what my parents were thinking," said Fox, grinning.

Olimar smiled. "At least I know that I am with friendly people here. You see, in the past few days of my research in the Wistful Wild, I have seen several suspicious people down here…"

"We're here to track them down, then beat them up!" said Falcon. "Do you know where they go?"

"I do not know…" Olimar replied. "I apologize. This place has made several changes during my absence, and I still need the aid of the pikmin to navigate it…"

"Wait, pikmin? What are those?" asked Luigi.

Something clicked in Fox's head. "Pikmin! I remember! They were one of the three main ingredients to the Endowment of Exigency, along with Dragons! That must be why the Ring of Darkness made their secret base here!"

"That would explain the decline in their population," said Olimar, shaking his head. "So it is those people that are causing it…"

"So can you lead us around here?" asked Samus.

"Yes, I know my way around the Wistful Wild, I just do not remember which cavern is the Dream Den. You see, there are three caverns in this area, so we will have to explore all three. The scanners on the Dolphin, my ship, have indicated several strange waves of energy from one particular cave, although I do not know the name of it as of now."

"We'll go there first," said Luigi. "We should try exploring all three, shouldn't we?"

The five smashers and Captain Olimar arrived at a mound of dirt with a huge hole in it. They arrived at a cavern.

"So who'll go in first?" asked Fox.

"We should all go…" Falcon started, but he was stopped by a roar.

Three, four, no, five large black creatures came into view. They looked like ladybugs with a black back and red spots. They only had two legs to move around, but they didn't need anymore; their humongous mouths covered in drool and spots of blood showed that they used their mouths to attack.

The most intimidating thing about these creatures were their sizes. One easily towered over every smasher, standing over three Bowsers tall!

"Spotty Bulbears! Untimely as well!" cried Captain Olimar.

"What do they do?" asked Jigglypuff, who was quite intimidated since she was the smallest.

"Can't you tell, Jiggs?" Captain Falcon cried as the bulbears approached, now being followed by much smaller versions of them. "Just look at their darn mouths! And they have little babies too!"

Fox turned to Olimar. "Can you fight?" he asked.

"No, but I can…" Olimar started, but Fox stopped him.

"Stay back, it'll get dangerous."

Olimar obeyed as he backed away.

"We want to save our energy a bit…" said Samus. "So I don't think we should use everything we have here."

"Especially me…" said Luigi.

Captain Falcon acted first. He disappeared, then he flew around the closest Spotty Bulbear, throwing a punch on every square inch he could find. When he stopped his barrage of punches, the Bulbear flinched and backed away, but it did not look too harmed.

The Bulbears now knew that they should not underestimate their opponents, so they all charged at the smashers.

BAM!

One Bulbear stopped in its tracks as a blast of phazon burned into its skin. It immediately shook its entire body, the phazon falling off of its face!

Fox was firing at the closest Bulbear with his blaster, firing as fast as he could and backing away. The Bulbear slowed down, but it showed no signs of fatigue until it fell to the ground, unable to move anymore.

By this time, the four other Bulbears were closing in on the smashers quickly. Jigglypuff held her hands behind her, then cried, "_Flamethrower!_" Another beam of fire engulfed all of the bulbears, but when the fire disappeared, they were not affected!

"They are immune to fire, electricity, water, and poison!" Olimar cried out.

"Geez, that's great…" said Luigi, withdrawing his hybrid fire-electric sword. "So what now?"

"Yeah, that's really good news…" said Samus. "They even resist phazon, and it looks like they resist energy attacks since it took over a hundred shots from Fox's blaster to take one down…"

BAM!

Fox came to the right of the right bulbear with his staff and slammed it into its side. It roared as it was pushed into the other Bulbear, tripping both of them. Jigglypuff jumped into the air, crying "_Meteor Mash!_" and slammed her iron fist into one of the Bulbear's backs. Its vital organs were instantly squished, and it gave one last roar of pain before it fell into an eternal rest.

Two down, Three to go.

Luigi jumped into the air, in front of the closest Bulbear, and fell quickly with a Green Missile. The Bulbear stepped back quickly, anticipating the attack. Luigi was stuck in the ground and popped out from the ground the moment the Bulbear came in for the bite…

CRUNCH!

"GAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

The huge jaws were clamped onto Luigi's elbow, almost about to bite it off. Luigi slammed his elbow into the wall, also slamming the side of the Bulbear's jaw into the wall. The Bulbear roared as it backed away, its mouth now bleeding with both its own and Luigi's blood.

Another Bulbear came from behind Luigi, and nobody else could help him at the moment. Both Fox and Jigglypuff were fending off the other Bulbear. Captain Falcon was speeding around, taking out the Baby Bulbears with swift punches. The Bulbear behind Luigi threw its jaw out, about to bite off Luigi's head. Luigi turned around in horror, with no time to defend himself…

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Three small purple creatures fell on top of the Bulbear's back with loud booms, stunning it in place. The three small creatures then began to smack it with the stems on their heads. In a moment, the Bulbear was downed.

"Those were… pikmin?" asked Luigi as he looked up to see Olimar standing on a ledge with an army of pikmin behind him.

The wounded Bulbear that chomped on Luigi's elbow charged at the plumber again, but before Luigi did anything, Olimar accurately threw a few more purple pikmin. They slammed on the Bulbear's back with several kilograms of weight, ruthlessly attacking it. After a few seconds, that Bulbear was downed.

SHING! BAM!

A stab from Fox's staff and a pound from Jigglypuff's fist took the last Bulbear out of commission. Captain Falcon was finishing up the job with the rest of the small Bulbears. Samus was… nowhere to be seen.

"Great, another person gone for now…" said Fox. "Those Bulbears are a lot tougher than I thought…"

"They are a rarer species, particularly in the Wistful Wild," said Captain Olimar.

"I underestimated those pikmin," said Luigi, massaging his bloody elbow. "They're pretty strong…"

"Particularly in an army of a hundred," said Olimar. "I am not defenseless."

"Wait, there's a note in here…" said Jigglypuff, picking up a piece of paper next to the entrance to the cavern.

Because I won't be of much use in your fight against the Bulbears, I decided to go on ahead to this cave and check it out. I didn't read any signs of machines or anything, but I saw a familiar foe that I need to take out in here. Don't follow me.

Samus

"Don't follow her?" said Captain Falcon. "She's more of a danger to herself, dude! I'm following her!"

"No," said Luigi. "You three want to take out the Ring of Darkness by yourselves, right? I'm going to follow Samus and check on her. I know the Ring of Darkness isn't in here, but if she's in danger, she'll need some help."

Then without another word, Luigi jumped into the cave entrance.

"…You know, I don't really feel the presence of the energy from the Ring of Darkness here either…" said Fox. "I just… feel it whenever one of them was nearby. We've faced so many of them by now that this feeling is just natural."

"…Yeah. Do you know the location of another cavern, Olimar?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Yes, I do, but I have not explored it recently…" Olimar started but…

"Man! Found another cavern," said Captain Falcon. "Just sped there, dude, cuz I'm just that fast. Follow me!"

Fox smiled. "Nice…"

* * *

Another cavern in front of them, this time beside a large metal can. 

"The sensors from the Dolphin indicate that the large energy readings from hidden machines…" said Olimar. "Do not come from this cavern."

"Well my instincts indicate that the Ring of Darkness is in here," said Jigglypuff. "Wait, if a machine is in the last cavern…"

"It's a machine that they're using to blow up this planet," said Fox, closing his eyes and feeling an aura. "But we need to take care of the Ring of Darkness…"

"I can fix machinery quickly," said Olimar. "I will search for the other cavern and disable the machine. Is it truly a bomb?"

"Something like that," said Jigglypuff. "But… we're not completely sure…"

"I'll go disarm it!" said Captain Falcon, but Fox and Jigglypuff grabbed his arms.

"I think you'll blow up this planet instead with your brains, no offense," said Fox, smiling sadly. "I think we should let Olimar go ahead. He's not defenseless anyways."

"Thank you. I wish you best of luck in the Dream Den," said Olimar.

"Well… Let's go in then," said Jigglypuff.

The three smashers hopped into the entrance to the Dream Den, about to begin their final fights…


	84. Chapter 84: The Other Power

Hack: A transition chapter to separate it from the true action. Be ready! There will be about ten chapters of pure fighting after this chapter! Five big fights, one for each character! Although Samus's fight won't be as big.

I felt like posting two chapters in a day. You should be happy. Anyways, be ready for future chapters!

* * *

**Chapter 84: The Other Power**

Luigi flipped in the air, then landed on solid ground. It was very dark around him in the cavern, and he could only see metal walls around himself.

Wait, metal walls?

It felt like he was in a bathtub with no water. The walls and ground was patched with random patterns of gray, blue, and black squares. Sometimes the ground was made of normal, brown dirt. Luigi looked up to see nothing at all, just pitch black.

He turned around to see a few downed green crickets.

"Samus must've taken those monsters out…" Luigi murmured to himself as he set off, but he didn't need to go very far…

BOOM!

Luigi jumped several feet into the air. He blinked several times before confirming what he was seeing. He saw two Samus's fighting each other.

However, it was quite obvious which one was the real Samus. The fake Samus wore a black suit with shades of blue at several points of its phazon suit. It was no other than…

"Dark Samus…" Luigi said. "That must be him…"

Dark Samus pointed his arm cannon at Luigi and sprayed several shots of phazon at him. Luigi glanced at the shots aimed towards him as he brought his hybrid shield up, blocking all of the phazon shots. Luigi then jumped at Dark Samus.

Samus, finally noticing Luigi, immediately stopped him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Here to help you, that's what!" Luigi yelled back.

"Ha ha ha…" said Dark Samus. "I knew you would come…"

"Me?" asked Luigi.

"What are you talking about?" asked Samus.

"I've been given a mission to deal with this man… To extract something and exterminate him."

"You won't be on my watch!"

Samus charged at Dark Samus in the air, firing several missiles at him. Dark Samus whirled in place, creating a huge cylindrical shield of phazon around him and deflecting all of the missiles. Samus and Luigi dodged the backfired missiles as Dark Samus chuckled.

"I apologize, Samus, but… I will need to attend to business. I think you can have fun with these few hunters…" said Dark Samus. "Phazon Teleportation! Start!"

Luigi and Dark Samus were surrounded by blue hemispheres of phazon.

"What? What the hell is going on here?" Luigi cried, but he was swallowed by the sphere and so was Dark Samus.

"Luigi! Dark Samus! Get back here!" Samus cried. "Luigi, give me a few seconds, I can form a phazon teleport… Huh?"

"Can't let you do that, Samus…" a low voice growled.

Three familiar figures appeared in the cavern, all corrupted by phazon.

"Sorry, Sammy," said Gandrayda. "But we have to stop you here." She was a humanoid woman with a pale, violet face. Her body, arms, and legs were made of pink gel, however, and she wore nothing.

"We'll have to see who's the most powerful…" said Rundas. He was a short man from an ice tribe. He wore a gray suit with blue ice protruding from several spots of his body.

"And we've been ordered to destroy you as well," said Ghor. He was in a large brown machine with four stubby legs. The arms of the machine had much power and enough to take down an entire cavern. Ghor's actual face was visible in the center, a brown, mechanical face.

"What? Why are you three…" said Samus. "How are you alive? I thought you were corrupted, and I had to… kill…"

Her voice trembled at the word 'kill.' Indeed, at a few planets, these three bounty hunters were corrupted by Dark Samus's phazon and were forced to turn against the Federation. Samus ended up killing them.

"There isn't any more time to talk," said Rundas. "We follow what we believe in, and we're all bounty hunters."

"Right now, you are our bounty," said Ghor. "It pains me but… Things must be done."

"…Right. We'll have to see about that…" said Samus, as her suit began glowing blue.

The three other bounty hunters began glowing as well.

"_Hyper Mode!_" All four cried.

* * *

Luigi was in another section of the cavern, except it was much darker. The shower-like walls and floor was still evident.

He was just teleported to another floor, away from Samus.

"Damn it! Where is she?" Luigi cried out.

"You don't need to worry about that right now…" said Dark Samus as he floated in the air.

"…Just… What the heck are you?" Luigi asked.

"That does not concern you. For now I will have to kill you right now…" Dark Samus held out his arm cannon and fired more phazon at Luigi.

Luigi jumped into the air, jumping over the phazon shots. He kicked off of the wall and flew towards Dark Samus, releasing a karate chop at Dark Samus's body.

His hand simply flew through Dark Samus's body! The body transformed into phazon, and as Luigi was blasted by another shot of phazon in the stomach, Dark Samus's body was restored.

"Ugh!" Luigi grunted, holding his burned stomach.

"I have infinite phazon… I cannot be destroyed," said Dark Samus.

"Infinite phazon? We'll have to see about that…" Luigi took out his silver clothes, closing his eyes.

_It's times like these where I have to take these risks…_

Luigi's hands and feet glowed, and Dark Samus seemed to give an evil laughter.

"Impulsive, are we? This is exactly what I want you to do…"

"What?" Luigi began to feel the other side trying to take control, but he won't let it. Not this time…

But Luigi had no time to use his new powers. Dark Samus's arm cannon seemed to open as Luigi began to feel himself getting sucked in.

"There is a hidden power in you that you inherited…" said Dark Samus. "When someone passed away, he must have passed it into a weakling like you. Such an advanced power should not be wasted on you…"

"W…What?" Luigi said, feeling his powers getting sucked away.

"With this, I can be on par with my fellow members of the Ring of Darkness. The power of the stars!"

_Power of stars? No… I have no clue what that is… Is it because of that? Is this why I have been having insane lapses from these clothes?_

Suddenly, Luigi shook violently, and he fell to the ground, back to his original green and blue overalls. He panted, falling to the ground, exhausted.

Dark Samus seemed to smirk behind the helmet. "Ha ha… I have it… Now try to defeat me!"

Suddenly, his body began to shake in place. The entire cavern began to rumble violently as rocks fell.

"No… no… no…" Dark Samus repeated. Luigi glanced up at him questioningly.

His arm cannon continued to expanded, revealing silver substances inside it. Suddenly, it exploded, along with Dark Samus. There was no phazon. Dark Samus was somehow dead.

Luigi shielded his eyes from the bright explosion. Then he looked at where Dark Samus once floated above. What was left was a small bit of silver substance. It began to turn black, and the substance began to grow out of the ground.

It grew… into the form of Luigi himself.

"It's a pleasure to see you again…" said the dark side.

"What? What the hell is going on here?" Luigi yelled. "Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize me? I am Shadoo… You and your friends have defeated me before in Flopside. I have always been sealed away in the dark side of the star rod.

"The star rod?"

"During your brother's life, he had the power of the star rod blessed upon him. He knew about me. To master this power, he had to conquer me. He had to defeat me." Shadoo scowled. "He did… But I always exist as an obstacle. Because he passed this power to you during his life, it has been passed on after his death. You possess it now."

"…The Star Rod… I have this kind of power?" Luigi asked.

"Yes. But… I have endured enough embarrassment now. I have had enough of being used."

"Wait… It was you who took control of my emotions… my actions… almost made me attack Fox and Jigglypuff…" said Luigi, his fists now shaking. "Is this why? Are you trying to take control of me?"

"Of course. I need a body to full function… Dark Samus's specialized arm cannon was enough to extract me and the entire power, but it was too powerful for him to contain. I made him die."

But Luigi was no longer listening. "So if I defeat you, I have control over this power. You exist as a part of my clothes, because I put part of that power in those clothes. If I want pure control…"

"But that will never happened." Shadoo smirked. "You do not possess those clothes. I have that power right now. You cannot defeat me."

"I… can't defeat… you…" Luigi gritted his teeth. "You've made me… act crazy… attack… kill mercilessly…"

He looked up at Shadoo with an expression of anger that he has never shown before. "**I'm gonna fucking kill you!!!!**"

* * *

Fox, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff fell into a cave, but it was not like the cavern Luigi and Samus were in. It was pitch dark, and it looked more like a normal cave. All around them lay several slopes of brown dirt and rocks.

"I can sense them…" said Fox. "They're in here…"

"And how right you are!" Wolf cried out of nowhere, about to kick Fox into the wall. Captain Falcon immediately dashed in between, blocking the attack and flinging Wolf off.

"Déjà vu again, dude? Go find the two other guys, I'll kill this wolf!" Captain Falcon cried. Fox and Jigglypuff obeyed again as they ran, but a sudden rockslide separated the racer from the two other smashers.

"Falcon!" Fox cried from the other side of the rockslide, dusting off the dirt on him.

"I will be fine, damn it! Don't you dare lose, you two!"

"No! We won't!" Jigglypuff cried.

There was a slashing noise from the ceiling, and rocks began to fall again, this time between Fox and Jigglypuff.

"I don't think separating us will be a bad thing, do you Jigglypuff?" asked Fox, waiting for the rocks to pile up.

"I doubt that our fights should coincide, if that's what you mean," said Jigglypuff, walking away from Fox. The rocks created another wall, preventing them from seeing each other.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Jigglypuff ducked underneath black energy disks, facing Black Shadow.

"So you've found us… Impressive," said Black Shadow. "And it's our current secret base as well… What a pity."

"Be quiet. I'm here to destroy you once and for all, and shatter your strategies," said Jigglypuff.

On the other side, Fox drew his staff in one hand and his blaster in the other. He had his reflector ready.

"The final fight, eh? That's what you told Luigi to tell me?" asked Fox.

"Indeed. I will be sorely disappointed if you do not put up a strong fight this time," said Metaknight. "I will not hold back if you are deserving of it."

"Don't worry," said Fox, transforming into his red clothes and into Brave Form. "I'll be much more of a challenge this time. I don't intend to be a pushover…"

* * *

The entire land of the Wistful Wild began shaking violently. Olimar continued to walk. He couldn't run or else his pikmin squad would not be able to keep up with his pace.

"This is not good…" said Olimar. "There must seriously be a self-destruction device in the last cave… The Hole of Heroes. I must find it fast!"

He looked ahead of himself to see a huge number of monsters, including a group of Spotty Bulbears.

"This will be tragic… I fear I will not go ahead without any deaths…" said Olimar, preparing his throwing arm.


	85. Chapter 85: Corruption

Hack: Short fight (because it really isn't that significant), followed by two fights at the same time. Neither of these two big fights will end in this chapter, though!

* * *

**Chapter 85: Corruption**

The odds were against Samus. Although she was incredibly powerful in hyper mode, she was up against three bounty hunters at similar levels with her and the ability to use hyper mode.

_And if I use Ren Kiu, I'll use too much energy… I'll need to save it for later…_

Rundas, the ice hunter, acted first. He jumped into the air and an ice platform appeared below him. He began moving through the air, continuously creating a path of ice to slide upon, thus 'flying' through the air. He quickly flew around Samus, firing several icicles at her. Samus, glowing blue, jumped into the air quickly and pointed her arm cannon down at Rundas, firing phazon at him.

A red laser from Ghor struck Samus dead on, knocking her into the wall. Gandrayda aimed her arms at Samus and threw several purple discs at her. Samus immediately transformed into morph ball to avoid the discs, then she boosted at the heavy Ghor, stunning him briefly.

A huge ice pillar flew up from the ground between Samus and Ghor, blocking the stunned hunter from Samus. Samus immediately flipped back to avoid another ice missile from the flying Rundas, just to crash into a huge blue beam. Samus crashed into the wall to her side, her suit already beginning to malfunction. She saw another Samus with her arm cannon out, except this Samus really was Gandrayda, the doppelganger.

"Sorry, Sammy!" said Gandrayda with a girlish tone. "But I don't think you can really take on all three of us at the same time!"

"You keep her busy, I need some time!" said Rundas as he stood, levitated in the air by another ice pillar. Ice mist began forming around his hand, combined with phazon.

Samus aimed her arm cannon at Rundas and fired a volley of phazon, but Ghor came in with an electronic shield, deflecting the attacks. Samus rolled to the side to avoid her backfired shots.

Gandrayda, the fastest of the three, appeared directly in front of Samus and shot her arm at Samus's neck. Samus immediately transformed into morph ball, but it was too late; Gandrayda had a hold on the ball. Samus began getting zapped through Gandrayda's arms. After a few seconds, Samus charged herself, boosting out of Gandrayda's hands.

Before Samus could transform back, Ghor came charging into her, shoving her into the wall. The cavern wall fell, and rocks fell on top of Samus as Ghor continuously smashed her miniscule circular body into walls.

KZERT!

"ARGH!"

Ghor stopped his charging rampage as Samus zapped him through phazon. Samus bounced away from Ghor, avoided several more pink discs from Gandrayda, and finally transformed back.

Samus looked up to see a huge ice pillar headed towards her! Clearly the big, huge attack thrown by Rundas. It also had shades of phazon in it.

Samus was about to jump to the side when a huge plasma beam from Ghor blocked her path.

KABOOM!

Samus was lying on the ground, electricity visible through her suit which is on the verge of malfunctioning. A pool of phazon spread around her body, and she was panting heavily, recovering from the huge ice pillar from Rundas.

Rundas prepared four huge ice cubes around him and sent them flying at Samus. Samus lifted her arm cannon and accurately destroyed all four ice cubes. Then she fired a hyper phazon missile at Rundas, who was recovering from his ice attacks. Rundas took the full blow, sent flying through another series of cavern walls.

CRACK!

All four bounty hunters looked around. The cavern floor began to crack, and then because of the lack of walls, it began to fall!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Floor after floor, the floor that the four hunters were fighting on continuously crashed through more floors of the cavern. They stopped momentarily, then immediately fell again.

"This isn't too good," said Gandrayda. "My aim's going to be a titchy-off from this falling stuff…"

"Same here," Ghor agreed.

"I concur," said Rundas.

"How ironic that we all focus on our projectile attacks…" said Samus, smiling.

"Ha ha… You're still an interesting hunter, Samus," said Rundas. "I regret having to kill you here. Remember when we arrived in the Norion elevator? We were the good guys."

"Justice will prevail and all that, yeah," said Samus.

"You were also the latest to arrive," said Ghor. "But because you were activating two of the generators."

"How do you all still have phazon in you?" asked Samus. "Because… When Dark Samus was defeated…"

"Why do you still have phazon? Ask yourself that first," said Rundas.

"I think it's because Dark Samus came back," said Gandrayda. "It must be that our corrupted forms came back."

"Corruption… It's what made us crazy," said Samus. "But you're not going to let me go, are you? Being bounty hunters and stuff."

"Well I'd prefer to side on the good guys' side," said Rundas. "But… I'm a bounty hunter, and I take a job for money. Sorry Samus, but it's going to be our job."

"I see…" said Samus, ignoring the roars of the ground falling constantly in the endless cavern.

"I am sorry, but we will have to say good bye here," said Ghor.

"Not because you'll defeat me, but because of this…" said Samus. "_Ren Kiu!!!_"

SHING!

Light shone around Samus as her suit was instantly healed. Her suit transformed into silver again.

"I'm not going to hold anything back," said Samus. "And no offense, but I don't think you stand a chance."

"We'll have to try though, won't we?" said Rundas.

"I also never got to say thank you for saving my life in that shaft," said Samus, pointing her arm cannon at Rundas. "It sucks that I could never repay you."

BAM!

Phazon explosions filled the entire room from a volley of missiles. Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda were tossed around among the explosions, more phazon seeping into them.

Rundas aimed his hand at Samus, resisting the pain, and fired as many ice phazon missiles as he could at Samus. Samus simply whirled around once to deflect all of them back, freezing him on the spot.

BOOM!

Ghor fired a huge red laser at Samus, but she shot her grappling beam at it. The red plasma laser seemed to combat the grappling beam, but it seemed like the laser was being sucked in!

"Sorry, Ghor," said Samus as she released the red laser back, combined with phazon.

KABOOM!

Ghor took a direct hit by his own laser, exploding on contact.

The phazon from her volley of missiles disappeared. Rundas was instantly thawed and Gandrayda whipped her arms out again. She disappeared on sight with her athletic speed, but Samus could read her easily.

SHING!

Samus reeled Gandrayda in instantly with her grappling beam and injected as much phazon as she could into the doppelganger. Gandrayda screamed as her body began to pulse wildly.

KABOOM!

Gandrayda's body disappeared into nothing. Now it was finally Rundas versus Samus.

"What is this power that you obtained so quickly?" asked Rundas.

"The Endowment of Exigency, if Dark Samus didn't inform you," said Samus.

"Hmph… Well I've got a trump card here too," said Rundas as his blue armor glowed white. "_Ren Kiu!_"

Samus's eyes widened as Rundas turned into a bright red color.

"I control all water in here now," said Rundas. "There's lots of water vapor in here too. Take this!" Rundas flicked his arm.

BAM!

Samus froze on the ground as the entire area around her turned into a huge ice sphere. Rundas swung a blue knife at it, slicing the ice and Samus apart. Samus looked at her new bleeding cut; her suit didn't heal itself.

"How did you attain it…?" asked Samus.

"It's something to do with my training with something called Alchemy," said Rundas. "I was training in a particular world where there were people who could control water and ice."

"I see…" said Samus, still chattering from the cold.

Samus morphed in spot and boosted forward, dodging a sudden freezing attack from Rundas.

KZERT!

Rundas was zapped again by Samus through phazon, and Samus unmorphed behind him.

"Here's my ultimate trump card…" said Samus, charging her arm cannon with blue phazon. "I'm sorry, Rundas. **Zero Beam!**"

KABOOM!

* * *

_I remembered that when I was training after Mario's funeral, I had thoughts on our fight back on the Halberd…_

"_It was mere luck that I defeated Black Shadow… He was caught off guard by Disable. He's not dead yet either. I can feel that I'll have to face his full power again._

_His Ren Kiu power is much more powerful than his normal form. I must train to be able to defeat that. The same trick won't work twice. He won't be fooled by Disable."_

_This time, my true power will be tested…_

"You'll be pleasantly surprised about how much stronger I grew," said Jigglypuff, smirking.

"Oh great," said Black Shadow. "Seeing as you've never seen my true power. Unfortunately for you… I've been training as well. I am now twice as powerful as Samus's calculations showed back in the Halberd."

Jigglypuff stood her ground as Black Shadow dashed forward, shooting his arm out. Caught by surprise, Jigglypuff immediately cried, "_Protect!_" blocking the attack. The barrier instantly disappeared, and Black Shadow took advantage of the recovery moment to place his hands on the ground, creating another dark barrier around Jigglypuff. As it did before on the StarWolf ship, the sphere began to suck Jigglypuff's energy dry.

Jigglypuff soon knelt down, unable to escape. She was instantly drained of her energy, already defeated.

She had something up her sleeves though.

"_Pain Split!_" Jigglypuff cried, catching Black Shadow off guard. A wall appeared between the two, and Black Shadow yelled in pain. Jigglypuff began to stand up, her energy restored.

"If aimed properly, Pain Split takes the energy between two people and then they both share the pain…" said Jigglypuff. "So I have regained energy and you lost energy."

"Ha… interesting…" said Black Shadow. "So you've learned some new tricks… I'll have to be more cautious now."

Black Shadow held his hands together, creating four clones of himself.

"This again? We'll have to see…" said Jigglypuff as she used Double Team to create four clones of herself as well.

All five Jigglypuffs instantly cried, "_Solarbeam!_" as they charged light for less than a second, and fired at the enemies. Black Shadow and his clones all cried out "_Dark Pulse!_" as a beam of darkness shot out of all of their hands and combated the Solarbeam attack…

* * *

Captain Falcon immediately blocked a downward smashing kick from Wolf with his elbow. Wolf jumped off and swung his leg in a roundhouse kick at Captain Falcon. Falcon jumped a few feet into the air, over the kick, and flipped, throwing his own foot down at Wolf's head. Wolf blocked the attack with his right elbow. With his free left arm, he shot out his hand at Captain Falcon's vulnerable stomach (who was still in the air).

BAM!

CRASH!

Captain Falcon crashed through the rocks in the wall. He immediately hopped back on his feet to see the speeding Wolf assault him again.

For a few seconds, they continuously threw punch after punch and kick after kick; Wolf blocking all of Captain Falcon's attacks, and Falcon blocking most of Wolf's attacks.

Finally, Captain Falcon found an opening to hit Wolf for the first time.

BAM!

Captain Falcon shot his arm at Wolf's stomach, blasting him into the wall. With his quick movement speed and reactions, Captain Falcon was flying into the air at Wolf with…

"Falcon Knee!"

FOOM!

Wolf immediately jumped to the side to avoid being burned. Captain Falcon broke down another wall, but he jumped backwards to avoid another flurry of punches from Wolf. Wolf whirled around and took several steps towards Captain Falcon, throwing punch after punch between each step. With every step Wolf took, Captain Falcon quickly flipped backwards, dodging every attack.

Captain Falcon reached another wall behind him, and he kicked off of it, flying at Wolf like a missile.

BOOM!

Falcon collided with Wolf's stomach at blinding speeds, sending Wolf flying into the wall that he broke before. Wolf flipped in the air, ignoring the bleeding wound in his stomach, and landed on a portion of the wall. He kicked off like a missile flying towards Captain Falcon.

Captain Falcon grabbed Wolf's head at the last moment, but Wolf spun his body like a spinning torpedo! Falcon's hands began bleeding from the speed of Wolf's spinning and he let go, stepping to the side as quickly as he could. Wolf's head scraped the side of Falcon's cheek briefly, leaving a small gash.

But Wolf flipped again and landed on the wall! Because Falcon was closer to this wall, he had no time to react as Wolf struck him directly in the chest!

BAM!

KABOOM!

Falcon crashed into the wall, just as a dusty Jigglypuff crashed into the same wall as well and landed beside him on the ground.

"You are no match for my speed," said Wolf.

"And you have no chance against me," said Black Shadow.

"…You too?" Jigglypuff asked Captain Falcon.

"…Yeah, I got my ass kicked just now…"

"…Same here…" she panted.

"Let's go for some innovation… You get the gist, girl?" asked Captain Falcon, also panting.

A light bulb lit up in Jigglypuff's head. "If you mean by some attacks we practiced together… Let's try it…"

They both stood up together, standing a good distance between Wolf and Black Shadow.

"Let's go!" Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff both cried.


	86. Chapter 86: Destroying Walls is Fun!

Hack: A tiny bit of teamwork, and then officially beginning Captain Falcon's big fight. The next chapter shall finish this big fight, and then I shall begin Jigglypuff's big fight! After two or three chapters of that, there will finally be Fox versus Metaknight!

And yes, Wolf, Black Shadow, and Metaknight have all actually grown stronger.

Stay tuned, and enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 86: Destroying Walls is Fun!**

Captain Falcon stood beside Jigglypuff, facing the opposite direction. He grabbed Jigglypuff's right hand with his own right hand, and they both jumped into the air.

"What is this? Some sort of circus?" asked Black Shadow, charging some darkness in his hands.

"Be on your guard, you punk!" Wolf yelled out. "You do know that we're not the only ones who got stronger!"

The two smashers began spinning in place in the air; they were spinning so fast that neither Wolf nor Black Shadow could distinguish Jigglypuff or Captain Falcon from each other!

FOOM!

FOOM!

Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon shot out of their formation, and at their enemies. Black Shadow, anticipating a light attack, immediately reacted with a Dark Pulse attack. Wolf, anticipating a powerful punch or kick, prepared to bring his fist back to block them…

BAM!

FOOM!

"ARGH!!!" Wolf and Black Shadow both cried. Both were sent flying into opposite walls, blood streaming everywhere. Jigglypuff had fired a powerful flamethrower at Wolf and Captain Falcon released a powerful punch into Black Shadow's gut. Black Shadow apparently forgot to split into particles because he anticipated a Solarbeam attack.

Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon kicked off of their opponents and began spinning in the air again. Wolf and Black Shadow both immediately jumped back on their feet.

"Peh… That's smart," said Black Shadow. "Attacking us when we expect a different enemy."

"This time, I know! I have the perfect reactions!" Wolf yelled out.

FOOM!

FOOM!

But unfortunately, the two smashers shot out so fast from their momentum that Wolf could not detect who was attacking.

Black Shadow immediately left himself open, relaxing himself and splitting into several dark particles. Wolf jumped upwards into the air to dodge an anticipated attack.

The key word here is anticipated.

"Bullet Punch!"

"_Solarbeam!_"

KABOOM!

BAM!

Falcon's fist came out of nowhere and crashed into Wolf's face, sending him soaring into the cavern walls again. Jigglypuff shot another beam of light at Black Shadow, who expected Captain Falcon to attack him, and was also blasted through the wall.

Wolf cracked his neck back into place and Black Shadow struggled to stand back up, stuck together by light.

Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon were at it again, spinning in the air once more.

"Fuck this, rather than wait and defend, I'm going to kill those punks!" Wolf cried out as he appeared directly above the spinning top.

"No! You're being foolish!" Black Shadow yelled out, but too late.

Jigglypuff shot out from the top and reached Wolf, touching his stomach. Before Wolf could react…

REST!

BOOM!

Wolf was sent flying again into Black Shadow, who dodged to the side. Captain Falcon shot out from the previous formation and pursued Wolf like a missile. His head crashed into Wolf's back, breaking down even more walls!

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Wolf was lying down on the ground, with blood trickling on his forehead. Captain Falcon kicked off of Wolf and began speeding at Black Shadow.

Suddenly, four more Black Shadows appeared! Captain Falcon's fists struck one clone, but he felt absolutely nothing.

"You need to do some more research about some other enemies first," said Black Shadow as he placed his hands on the ground, creating several dark holes around himself. "You can't run anymore."

Captain Falcon was running so fast that he couldn't stop himself from falling into a hole, and fall he did. However, Black Shadow took a steel fist from Jigglypuff, breaking the floor. Fox and Metaknight popped out from the floor.

"Hey, do you mind not destroying this cavern anymore?" asked Fox. "We're starting to lose space here, you know."

"I concur," said Metaknight. "We need to find a different dueling area."

Jigglypuff pointed to her right. "You both should go a floor down and past those walls. I doubt we'll break through your fight if you're far enough."

"Thanks." Fox and Metaknight shot through the wall that Jigglypuff pointed out, several clanging noises heard.

"So shall we continue?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Let's…" said Black Shadow. "Now that the racer and the wolf is out of the way…"

* * *

Wolf woke up, leaning against the wall. "Damn… that was a big beating I took…"

Captain Falcon popped from a black hole in the ceiling. "Geez, that took a bunch of energy to manipulate… I think I'm a bit rusty in controlling shadows and darkness…"

"Heh! So we're alone and away from the puffball and Black Shadow!" Wolf said. "I hate to admit it, but that trick was pretty badass, playing with our minds!"

"Naw, you're just too stupid," said Captain Falcon.

"…stupid, am I?" said Wolf. "We'll have to see about that after this duel!"

Wolf appeared directly in front of Captain Falcon and threw another powerful punch. Captain Falcon retaliated by releasing his own punch…

"_Wolfen Punch!_"

"_Bullet Punch!_"

BOOM!

Their fists collided and time seemed to stop for a moment. Suddenly, a huge explosion blew Captain Falcon away, crashing into even more walls!

"Damn it…" Captain Falcon cursed as he spat out blood, standing up. "My bullet punch didn't even stop that…"

"And to put it simply…" said Wolf, smirking. "That ain't even my best punch. How will you stand up against me? You can't force me into Ren Kiu any longer. My power level reaches three thousand without Ren Kiu now. You're not the only one who grew, you little wuss. I'm just a step farther ahead all the time."

"Step farther ahead my fucking ass…" said Falcon, now in a fighting pose again. "Try me, you ass!"

Wolf appeared right in front of Falcon again, but Falcon disappeared, sinking into the shadows.

"…Hmph, I forgot about that," said Wolf. "So where will the little wuss appear now?" he asked himself, pondering as he walked around.

Nothing seemed to happen. Wolf seemed to be walking around, thinking to himself.

After several seconds, Wolf suddenly jerked his hand downward, yanking Captain Falcon's head up from the shadows.

"Got ya, you pussy!"

BAM!

Two punches occurred at the same time. Wolf released another Wolfen Punch that travels at the speed of a Wolfen into Captain Falcon's stomach. A dark arm emerged right in front of Wolf and punched him in the gut.

Falcon crashed into the wall again, but Wolf was hardly fazed.

"Is this all you have? Your weak little punches can't hurt me any longer!"

"_Bullet Punch!_"

"Hmph."

BOOM!

Falcon was sent flying again as Wolf released a third Wolfen Punch.

"That Bullet Punch allows your hand to shoot out like a bullet. But there's a huge flaw," said Wolf. "A bullet is small and weak. A Wolfen, meanwhile, is large, powerful, and fast… As fast as a bullet. This is why you are such a damn weakling."

Wolf stood above Falcon, who was kneeling on the ground.

"Now who's the idiot?" Wolf asked, kicking Falcon in the gut.

"…You…" Falcon stuttered, but he was smiling.

Wolf looked down to see several dark hands grabbing his feet. A pair of hands came up to grab his shoulders, bringing him down to the ground.

"Ha! You've done this to me before back on the Halberd you punk!" said Wolf. Falcon was at the ceiling, releasing a fast…

"_Falcon Kick!_"

But Falcon learned from his mistakes last time. Another black hand came up and grabbed Wolf's head, preventing him from retaliating any way.

BOOM!

Wolf's stomach was burned, and Wolf coughed out blood. He immediately ripped the shadow arms off of himself and jumped back.

"So, the little pussy has more than I expected…"

"Shut the fuck up," said Falcon. "I've had enough of your damn insulting and ranting and that damn shit."

"…So you've had enough of this? You haven't even proven yourself worthy of my true form yet, punk!"

"…A Wolfen Punch represents a Wolfen? A Wolfen is a ship, right?" asked Falcon, holding up his fist.

"You catch on quickly enough."

"_Bullet Punch!_" Falcon cried as he flung himself into the air.

"_Wolfen Punch!_"

Wolf sent out his fist again, but Falcon didn't even use his fist!

He winked as his eyes met Wolf's eyes. "Psych."

Electricity flowed from Captain Falcon's knee as he countered the Wolfen Punch with the normal knee attack. The knee overpowered the Wolfen Punch and Wolf was knocked off of his feet.

"It's a ship, and an overflow of electricity will destroy it! It counters your punch well," said Falcon.

FOOM!

Falcon appeared directly above the flying Wolf and threw his feet down, spiking Wolf into the ground. A black fist came up from the ground, striking Wolf's face and sending him flying upwards again. Captain Falcon brought his elbow down and struck Wolf's face again, spiking him. The same fist was about to hit Wolf's face when Captain Falcon charged a…

"Falcon… Puuuuuuuuuunch!!!"

But it was no use. Wolf flipped in the air as he fell towards the hand, grabbed the shadow hand, flung himself into the air, and kicked Falcon in the gut with his own feet.

BOOM!

"Look at you," said Wolf. "You may match my speed, but if I'm also stronger, then it's no use, punk."

"_Falcon Dash!_"

Falcon began running, faster than Wolf was able to run. In a blink of an eye, Wolf received three punches, one in the cheek, one in the stomach, and one in the shoulder.

"I run faster than you too," Falcon's voice echoed through the cavern room. "My Falcon Dash is faster than before."

BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!

Wolf stood his ground as he received over a hundred punches everywhere in his body.

"Ha! Got you!" Wolf shot his arm out to his right, but Falcon timed Wolf's reactions and grabbed Wolf's incoming hand. He threw Wolf over his shoulder, sending Wolf into the wall. Wolf flipped and kicked off of the wall for the millionth time and shot at Falcon like a missile.

"How many times did you do that? It's so damn predictable now!"

BAM!

With perfect timing, just as Wolf was a centimeter away from Falcon's head, Falcon shot his arm up with a Raptor Boost, sending Wolf upwards. He appeared next to Wolf's body…

"You've never actually got hit by it yet, so I'll let you know how it feels," said Falcon. Wolf flipped in the air to counter the incoming punch, but it was too late.

"_Bullet Punch!_"

BAM!

Wolf was still in the same spot, but he stopped moving. He began falling, and he crashed into the ground, leaving a large cracked. He held his chest, which was stinging in pain now.

"I know why the bullet punch kept losing," said Falcon. "Because it's not power… It's pinpoint accuracy. My Bullet Punch focuses so much power into such a tiny point that I never send people flying with it. I severely damage one point of the body that I hit, which is your lung right now."

Wolf coughed out more blood as he still held his chest.

"Ha… little… punk…"

"_Bullet Punch!_"

Falcon aimed at Wolf's head this time, but Wolf rolled to the side. Falcon's hand struck the ground, but it didn't shatter. The ground had a perfectly round thin hole in it now, just large enough to fit an arm in.

"_Falcon Dash!_ Followed by _Falcon Knee!_"

BOOM!

Unable to react to Falcon's superior speed, Wolf was sent flying again into the walls that have been broken several times. Wolf struggled to get back on his feet again.

"Bring it out," said Falcon, gesturing a 'bring it on' pose. "I can take it."

"…Ren… Kiu?" asked Wolf.

"You know what the fuck I mean! I'm obviously more powerful than you now without your Ren Kiu, so if you want to live…"

"…So you aren't so weak… You asked for it," said Wolf, smirking. "And trust me… you will die… my power will now jump to over seven thousand…"

His body glowed white. Wolf cried, "_Ren Kiu! Triple Form!_"


	87. Chapter 87: Captain Falcon vs Wolf

Hack: Here it is! The big bulk of the Captian Falcon vs. Wolf fight! It ends at the end too, unfortunately, but this chapter ain't short at all! I assure you, you will not be disappointed by this epic fight! Enjoy it! After this, you've got one, two, three more big fights left!

Jigglypuff vs. Black Shadow

Fox vs. Metaknight

Luigi vs. Shadoo

Look forward to them!

* * *

**Chapter 87: Captain Falcon vs. Wolf**

Wolf's appearance hardly changed at all; his body simply gave out a blue aura. Captain Falcon was confused by this, since he was expecting the animal-wolf form he got own by back on the Halberd.

"Wait, I thought your Ren Kiu was a transformation…"

"That's only part of it," said Wolf. "You'll see the full extent of it…"

Captain Falcon suddenly raised his elbow up, blocking an invisible blow from nowhere. However, Wolf didn't even move from his spot!

"What?"

"You don't see me move? That's because I'm too fast for you now," said Wolf.

"Bullshit."

Captain Falcon took a step forward, but Wolf disappeared. Captain Falcon whirled around and jumped to the side, feeling a claw swipe at his shoulders.

"Peh, and a second later I would have gotten your neck…" Wolf growled, now naked on four legs with yellow saliva dripping from his mouth.

Wolf disappeared on the spot again.

_So his Ren Kiu must be the ability to change between his human-wolf and pure-wolf forms. And when he's on four legs, he's a lot faster, but…_

Captain Falcon wavedashed forward to narrowly avoid another swipe behind him.

_He misses a tiny bit more often because he moves so fast. Now that I have better reflexes…_

Captain Falcon stood in place, waiting for the invisible, speedy wolf to make a move.

SLISH!

Blood flew from Falcon's cheek, creating a new cut, but at the same time, Falcon shot his arm out and grabbed Wolf's head. Falcon used his other arm to use…

"_Bullet Punch!_"

BAM!

Falcon's fist was in Wolf's stomach, and Falcon smirked, expecting signs of pain. However, Wolf was still standing in place. He didn't move at all, and he didn't even show any signs of pain!

"What?" Falcon gasped before Wolf transformed into his wolf-form and disappeared again. Instantly, Falcon felt several claw slashes all over his body.

"Ugh…" Falcon groaned before he felt another claw slash and released a punch to his right. Wolf felt a blow directly in the face…

But didn't show any signs of pain at all!

"You might be wondering why your punches don't work on me any more…" said Wolf, detracting his claws. "In both my wolf and human forms, I am invincible to you. I am as fast as a Wolfen, as maneuverable as an Arwing, and as tough as a Landmaster. Punches and kicks can't hurt me."

"So you're really fast… You can control your movements… and you can't take hits…" said Falcon. "That's… a pretty sexy combo, I hate to admit…"

"Damn straight, you bitch. My body will be as hard as diamond if you try punching me. Even I can't punch through diamonds with a raw fist, but nobody can, and I doubt you can…"

"Well then…" said Captain Falcon, bashing his fists together until they began bleeding. "By the end of this fight, I'll be a man who can punch through diamonds."

* * *

Olimar felt very guilty and remorseful at the moment. There were several pikmin deaths in this epic battle between the pikmin army and the monsters of the Wistful Wild. He himself was giving his two cents by punching a few dwarf bulborbs and bulbears down, but that's all he could really do.

"Move back! I must reach the Hole of Heroes now!" Olimar cried. He grabbed a violet substance from his pockets. "This is my last bitter spray, so I bid you farewell."

He let out a deep burp. A stream of purple gas shot out from his mouth and all of the monsters in the gas turned to stone. Olimar immediately led his pikmin to the cavern ahead with as much speed as they could run, zigzagging their way through the flowers, trees, and petrified beasts.

They all hopped into the cavern hole and Olimar scouted forward. He pressed a few buttons on his arm, and said, "Turn on the Solar System, Dolphin!" The cave immediately lit up, and he found himself in front of a huge spider. Olimar literally jumped several feet high, yelping in surprise.

"Hello, Olimar…"

"I thought you were disposed of! And when did you have the ability to speak?" Olimar asked the towering Titan Dweevil.

It didn't look much like a spider, really. The body looked like a huge combination of several weapons smacked together, more than four, which was more than when Olimar faced this ferocious boss. The only visible parts of his visible body were the legs sticking out of the pile of weapons.

"I have more weapons, enough to deal with you and your pikmin!" The Titan Dweevil roared. "You can't keep them all safe, and by the time you knock any of my weapons off, your army will be destroyed!"

"Not if I can help it…" someone else said.

The Titan Dweevil looked up and stepped to the side to avoid a phazon shot. Samus came into the scene.

"I have no clue where Luigi went, but…" Samus explained. "I think saving this planet is more important at the moment. Olimar, you go look for the bomb in this cave, I'll deal with this insect."

"…Samus Aran, I thank you for your help," said Olimar, smiling. He immediately jumped away and jumped down another hole leading down more levels, his pikmin army following him.

"You think you can beat me? I have more weapons than anyone can ever hope to carry and utilize to their full potential!" the Titan Dweevil cried. "I can use more than one at a time!"

"Oh yeah? Try me," said Samus, readying her arm cannon.

* * *

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

Captain Falcon repeatedly took several punches in the stomach by the human-form Wolf. Falcon saw Wolf about to run around him and grabbed him, releasing another Bullet Punch. Wolf did not feel any pain at all, and he kicked Falcon across the room.

Captain Falcon pointed his fingers at Wolf and snapped them, releasing a huge explosion, but Wolf was steps ahead. He dashed ahead of the explosion and jumped to the ceiling, standing on it and pointing his head down at Falcon.

"This is my trump card…" said Wolf. "You will die if you take a hit from this. _Wolfen Missile!_"

Captain Falcon stood up, creating a wall of shadows in front of him. "Try me."

KABOOM!

There was a huge explosion at the ceiling as Wolf shot down at Captain Falcon. He pierced through the wall of shadows, but as he did, he couldn't see where he was going. Falcon dashed around and charged another Falcon Punch.

However, Wolf spun his body clockwise, turning right in the air around the wall of shadows and striking Falcon in the side! Wolf's head drilled into Falcon's waist, releasing blood everywhere. Falcon was sent plowing through wall after wall. After a few seconds, Falcon immediately rammed his elbow down, but Wolf spun to the side to avoid this counterattack, curving his velocity direction.

"Damn it!!" Falcon cursed out loud. "Falcon Dash!"

BAM!

Wolf spun around so fast that he struck Falcon again, even with his speed from Falcon Dash. Falcon focused his energy into the shadow below him and dark hands came up so quickly and surrounded Wolf that Wolf couldn't turn in time, and he stopped in place, held in midair by the hands.

Captain Falcon jumped over Wolf and stayed in midair, hovering. He twisted his body so it was parallel with the ground and Wolf's body, and Captain Falcon began spinning, doing the splits in midair so his legs spun as if they were acting as a really fast windmill. Every time a leg was below Captain Falcon, there was a huge BAM and struck Wolf's face. Captain Falcon only spun faster and faster, repeatedly kicking Wolf's face.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

Wolf immediately transformed back into his animal form. The sudden change in his physical shape caused the hands to loosen their grips on him, freeing Wolf. He jumped away from the hands and Captain Falcon.

"Ha! You kicked me several times at the speed of sound yet you still didn't hurt me! Your kicks have no punch in them, you punk!" Wolf yelled out, standing back in his human form.

"_Falcon… !!_"

Wolf simply stood there, smirking.

BOOM!

Wolf slid back from the force of the Falcon Punch, his vest severely singed from the fire. The fur on his chest was also charred black, but he clearly felt no pain at all!

"That'd hurt a normal person badly, but not me, punk!"

"_Bullet Punch!_"

"_Wolfen Punch!_"

It was no contest whatsoever here. The moment their fists collided, blood exploded from Falcon's fist and Captain Falcon went crashing into walls.

FOOM!

Captain Falcon shot at Wolf and they began fist-fighting in midair.

Captain Falcon shot his fist at Wolf's head.

Wolf blocked it with his elbow and shot his knee at Captain Falcon.

Captain Falcon used a fiery Falcon knee to push Wolf back and then he shot his other fist at Wolf's stomach, drawing his first fist back.

Wolf whirled around, releasing a round-house kick and kicking away Falcon's fist.

Captain Falcon leaned back to feel the wind being broken directly above his chest and face by Wolf's leg. He then flipped, shooting his legs up.

Wolf was struck in his chin by Falcon's legs but felt no pain. He grabbed Falcon's legs and threw him up. Wolf shot to the ground, then kicked upwards at high velocities.

Captain Falcon readjusted himself in midair and pointed his legs down, shooting them at Wolf's face and spiking him.

Wolf flipped in midair, landed on the ground, and shot up again. He transformed into his animal form, and used the walls to bounce around so fast that he literally appeared directly behind Captain Falcon, about to bite the back of his neck.

Captain Falcon whirled around with another roundhouse kick, hitting Wolf's side but dealing no damage.

Wolf lost his aim with his jaw, however, so he drew his left claw while flying to his right and sliced threw Captain Falcon's elbow.

Captain Falcon created a black fist on the wall that Wolf was flying at and it punched Wolf in the face, sending him back to Captain Falcon.

Wolf flipped in midair, facing Captain Falcon in midair. He opened his jaw wide and opened up his arms and legs, revealing his underbody.

Captain Falcon took this chance to release another Bullet Punch at Wolf's chest, but that too did no damage.

As Falcon's fist dug into Wolf's chest harmlessly, Wolf grabbed Captain Falcon's shoulders with his front claws, digging into them until blood came out. His feet grabbed Captain Falcon's feet, and his jaw was inches away from Captain Falcon's face. Wolf's maneuver forced the two to fly into another wall, with Captain Falcon's back colliding. Falcon was now lying on the ground with Wolf on top of him.

"Pinned down again, eh?" Wolf said, dripping disgusting saliva on Falcon's face.

"Shut the fuck up. _Fiery Jinx!_" Although Falcon's arms were locked in place, his fingers were free, and Falcon focused all his energy into forming a fiery explosion. Wolf jumped away from Falcon's body, dodging the explosion, but not before leaving two long scratches on Falcon's chest.

FOOM!

SLISH SLASH!

Captain Falcon received more cuts from the invisible wolf. He whirled around, but Wolf was reaching his maximum speed now. Captain Falcon could no longer react quick enough to grab Wolf at the same time that Wolf slashes him, because Wolf was moving even faster, fast enough to out-speed Falcon's reflexes!.

"_Wolfen Punch!_"

Captain Falcon was too slow. Wolf appeared, in human form, directly in front of Captain Falcon and delivered a devastating Wolfen Punch directly in the stomach.

KABOOM!

Captain Falcon was bleeding. His helmet was completely cracked, and he could hardly see anything. Blood leaked from his eyes, nose, and mouth. His arms were no longer mobile. He could hardly breath as Wolf struck one lung directly. He was lying on the ground in the middle of a pile of rubble, thanks to the fact that his body destroyed a huge series of cavern walls.

Wolf appeared in front of Captain Falcon, in human-form, and looked down on him.

"I told you… You can't beat me in Ren Kiu," said Wolf, sneering down on the downed Captain Falcon.

"Ah… No…"

Captain Falcon's legs shook as he got back on his feet, but he felt his legs break from more instant bites from the speedy Wolf.

"It's hopeless. You can't protect any damn thing," said Wolf. "You were unable to save Samus the first time from us on my mother ship, and you won't be able to do anything about this planet."

"…what?"

"Our bomb will destroy this pointless planet… We'll be able to create a universe with powerful planets. Your planet will be next. What's the point of racing if nobody can actually fight?"

Captain Falcon spat out more blood, and he felt another claw create another scar on his face. Wolf seemed like he didn't move at all.

"No… Don't you fucking… dare…"

"It's amusing. You're the weakest of your five, yet you're trying to tackle one of the high officials of the Ring of Darkness: me, Wolf O'Donnell. You're either really stupid or really brave. No wait, I guess the former… Your punches are all talk. They may have more speed, but they lack the force."

"…So… they lack… power…"

"You wusses are all pathetic. But for now, I think I'll kill some of your friends out there…" Wolf turned around and began walking away.

_Power… That's what I lack… But do I need it? _

_Vivian told me… I can use the shadows to bring my speed up. It helped, but it makes me more predictable if I use it as my main form of movement… At least predictable to Wolf._

_Speed is my advantage… He can't read me as well as I was able to. It's my trump card._

_The shadows are my trump card…They're what I have against Wolf, besides Fire which definitely won't work.  
_

* * *

_"It'll take a long time for you to master this…" Vivian told Captain Falcon. "We're near the end of our training, and I'm really sorry that we couldn't go any further…"_

"_No problem," said Captain Falcon. "You've helped me quite a bit, babe!"_

"_Tee hee! Well… You've come really far!"_

"_So what were you talking about?"_

"_Well you can make shadow clones of your body come out from any spot of shadow that you see, as long as you focus enough. You can sink your entire body into the shadows as well, so if you were fast enough, you can instantly appear elsewhere."_

"_So… what is this you're talking about?" Captain Falcon repeated._

_"Well it's more of an extension to this… You see…"_

* * *

_I know now… I know what I can do to destroy Wolf's armor… I can destroy anything with this. It's risky but I have no choice... I'm going to kill that fucking wolf...  
_

"You bastard… Wait…" Captain Falcon stood up, struggling to stay on his feet.

"Oh? So you're still up? Hang on, I'll finish you off in a second…" said Wolf.

SLISH! SLASH!

Captain Falcon flinched at the pain, but he continued to stand.

"I won't let you… near my damn friends… You have no fucking right to control lives…" Captain Falcon muttered. "I'd die… before you touch… them…"

"So you'd die before I touch them, eh? We'll have to see about that after we see who wins… And it's pretty damn clear to me who's going to win," said Wolf, now turning around. "All right, you want me to finish you off? Allow me."

"No, I won't allow you…" said Captain Falcon. "**You won't fucking touch them!!**"

Wolf appeared directly in front of Captain Falcon, bringing his arm back. Although Captain Falcon could have used an electric knee, that wasn't what he had on his mind...

"_Wolfen Punch!_"

"_Shadow Punch!_"

KABOOM!

* * *

_Vivian continued. "You see… You can make actual parts of your body sink into the shadow."_

"_Ew! So if I lower my arm, then I lose it?" Captain Falcon asked._

"_Technically, yeah, but if you make it appear directly in front of you again, extended… You have a punch that has infinite speed. If you don't reconnect your arm fast enough, about in a millisecond or so, then you'll lose it. You can do this with any part of your body…"_

"_Ah ha! So this makes me even more of a sexy speed demon! I like it!"_

_"It's really, really, REALLY dangerous though. Even practicing it is life-threatening."_

_"So this is the thing. I have my arm here…" said Captain Falcon. Then he extended his arm out in a punch. "Then if I sink it into the shadow below me and make it appear up here, and it hits something…"_

_"It'll be very powerful with infinite speed," said Vivian. "Your arm will basically start in front of your body, and in literally zero seconds, if you're fast enough with the shadows, it will appear farther out in a punching motion."_

_"So… It's like… a Shadow Punch…"_

_"That's actually an accurate name, I guess! Hee hee!" Vivian giggled._

* * *

"Your punch is… as fast as… light…" Captain Falcon started as he looked down on the bloody Wolf, who was lying on the ground.

"What… the fuck…?" Wolf gasped, wheezing. He coughed out more blood as he held his chest, which was now heavily bruised. The lung in his body was now punctured.

"But my punch… it beats light! It has infinite speed! It appeared out of nowhere!" Captain Falcon yelled out. "With infinite speed… Comes infinite force… And infinite force… Comes lots of power… Focused power if combined… with a bullet punch… And combined that... with infinite speed... Basic physics… ya know?"

"Don't you dare… **TEASE ME!!**" Wolf yelled out. He transformed again into his animal-form and appeared directly behind Captain Falcon.

BAM!

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Wolf's nails on his claws grew several inches long and he literally stabbed his claws into Captain Falcon's back. The ends of the nails stuck out from Captain Falcon's stomach; luckily, it missed his big vitals. Wolf immediately detracted his claws as Falcon whirled around again, but Wolf was speeding around again.

* * *

_"What are you doing here in the End of Time?" asked Vivian. Just another day of training, and another random visitor traveling through the End of Time.  
_

_"Me? Chaos Control!" the blue hedgehog cried out. "A space-traveling ability once I've an emerald. I need to get back to the Final Egg to finish off that Eggman."_

_"Wait!" Captain Falcon cried out. "…I just saw you run. How fast are you? And what the hell is your name?"_

_"How fast am I?" the hedgehog asked. "My name… is Sonic the Hedgehog! Remember it! And you're asking about my speed? Well judge for yourself."_

_Captain Falcon suddenly found himself miles away from Vivian, who suddenly noticed that Falcon was gone._

_"What?"_

_"I just carried you here," said Sonic. "It's the speed. I'm known for my speed. Nothing is faster than me. I run faster than light."_

_"Faster than light?" Captain Falcon smirked. "Tell me about it."_

_"But first… Try hitting me. Come at me from wherever you are. I can tell you're really fast too, but definitely not as fast as me!"_

_"Pretty damn cocky, I see!" Captain Falcon replied. He disappeared, having several dark hands emerge from the dark ground around Sonic. They all were about to grab him when Sonic suddenly disappeared! Captain Falcon was directly above where Sonic was, about to strike him, when Sonic was above him._

_"I have infinite reflexes with this…" said Sonic. "And you can run as fast as light with this other ability. I can tell you what I've named them, but you'll need something called a Soul Gauge, which is determined by… your emotions."_

_"Emotions? I'm just damn cocky."_

_"I've got to go. It's been nice seeing a slowpoke trying to be fast!" Sonic said._

_"Wait a second! Get back here you little…"_

_Sonic sped off and Captain Falcon chased after him, but in a second, Falcon lost sight of Sonic._

_Sonic's voice echoed through the End of Time. "If you would like to get a start on reaching me, I named these two abilities…"_

* * *

"_Time Break!_" Captain Falcon held his fist, focusing all of his anger into his fist.

Time dramatically slowed down in Captain Falcon's perspective. Everything turned black and white, and he saw Wolf coming at him from behind, his claw an inch from his neck.

Although Captain Falcon couldn't actually move any faster in slow-mo, he can certainly react a lot quicker…

BOOM!

Captain Falcon blocked Wolf's slash with his elbow.

"What?" Wolf cried out. "Then try this!"

Wolf disappeared again. Captain Falcon simply stood in place, panting and still tired, but ready to react.

SLISH SLASH SLISH SLASH SLISH SLASH SLISH SLASH SLISH SLASH

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Captain Falcon skillfully blocked every single slash, although taking smaller cuts on his arms.

"Nice attacks…" said Falcon as Wolf was standing there, stupefied. "Now check out my speed! This is the other ability Sonic told me about, bitch! _Speed Break!_"

The complete opposite of Time Break. Captain Falcon disappeared. Wolf was looking around on his four legs, his eyes now showing nervousness.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Wolf felt five punches in his gut, all punches that Captain Falcon used the shadows for. Wolf coughed out blood, feeling his Ren Kiu armor being destroyed.

"No… You can't hurt me…"

Wolf closed his eyes, sensing Captain Falcon running everywhere in the room. He could not point out where he was, but the moment Captain Falcon was about to touch him…

"Got ya, bitch!"

Wolf, now instantly in human form, had Captain Falcon up against the wall, holding him by the neck with his hand.

"You've got nice tricks… Suddenly able to react to everything… And speeding up past the speed of light…"

Captain Falcon's free legs lifted up to his own chest. In less than a millisecond, Captain Falcon's legs disappeared into the shadows, then they reappeared, fully extended, and into Wolf's approaching…

"Wolfen Punch!"

"Shadow Bullet Spike!"

KABOOM!

Another explosion resulted. Wolf was sent flying into the wall, but he expected this sudden turn in events. He flipped in the air, landed on the wall. He shot to the ceiling, standing upside down on it, and charging his feet.

Captain Falcon was now exhausted.

_Damn it… I can't use what Sonic told me about anymore… No more emotional soul gauge or whatever that crap it… No more Time or Speed Break for me…_

Captain Falcon bit his lips, bleeding to suppress the pain in his legs. He shot up into the air, despite all of his injuries. Wolf shot from the ceiling, faster than ever, and leaving streaks of blue light behind him. Captain Falcon brought his arm back, ignoring the fact that Wolf was approaching him at the speed of light.

"**My trump card! ****Super Wolfen Missile!**" Wolf cried out, inches from Falcon's chest and stomach. He was spinning again, except much faster than before. He was fired like a spinning missile for the second time in this fight.

"**Here is mine!!**" Captain Falcon screamed as Wolf began drilling into his heart and stomach. They were both flying in midair, plowing through more walls. Captain Falcon's fist glowed violet with darkness and red with fire. It fell into the shadows, then instantly appeared directly above Wolf's back. Captain Falcon's punch was aimed down at the spinning Wolf. Blood splattered everywhere from Falcon's chest and stomach, now feeling his heart about to be torn apart.

"**FALCON… SHADOW… PAWWWNCH!!**"

At the moment that Captain Falcon struck a wall that wasn't knocked down, Falcon spilled out blood from his mouth, drenching his entire front body with dark blood. However, his fist collided with Wolf's back before the huge collision, instantly breaking through the Ren Kiu armor and breaking Wolf's spine. Wolf's eyes widened as he was sent flying down into the ground. The ground exploded as Wolf plowed through it. He was sent flying down even more flows, leaving a huge trail of blood. Each floor he crashed into created a huge fiery explosion, singeing his body each time.

KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM!

Captain Falcon panted as he fell off of the wall he was stuck on and began falling through the holes that he made with his trump card. He used the last of his energy to flip in midair, landed on his feet next to Wolf. Captain Falcon suddenly fell to the ground, lying there and almost unconscious.

"Ha… Ha…" Wolf gasped out in pain. His back was bent at a right angle. His arms and legs were limp and his eyes were about to close. His mouth was filled with blood as he was barely able to talk. "…You… got me… damn it…" His eyes closed, and his head became limp.

"Finally…" Captain Falcon wheezed as he closed his eyes. "I just… hope… someone saves… me…"

Victor: Captain Falcon


	88. Chapter 88: Jigglypuff vs Black Shadow

Hack: You've seen Captain Falcon's ending to his big fight after Chapter 86, so here's Jigglypuff's side! It was actually quite difficult to write up this fight because Black Shadow really isn't a fighter, so it's hard to think of some attacks and such for him (I had the ending and his Ren Kiu in mind the entire time though.) As a result, I didn't really get very psyched into writing this because it was so hard, explaining the end to my three or four chapter updating speed in one week. Enjoy!

* * *

** Chapter 88: Jigglypuff vs. Black Shadow**

"_Agility!_"

Jigglypuff began speeding around the arena, hardly visible due to her insane speed (not quite as fast as Wolf or Captain Falcon though). She ran over all of the black hole traps that Black Shadow laid for her, avoiding their gravity. Black Shadow cloaked himself with a black force field, blocking off all of Jigglypuff's speeding pound attacks around him.

"_Brick Break!_"

Jigglypuff's fist turned red as she scanned the force field. Immediately, she punched five spots in an X-shape, breaking through the force field that Black Shadow created.

Jigglypuff was up close to Black Shadow now, giving her better aim. She charged her fists, and began to cry, "_Focus…_" when she was instantly sucked into the ground by another black hole!

"I already know about your Solarbeam, Jigglypuff!" Black Shadow cried out as Jigglypuff popped out of the ground, her energy drained. "Clearly in case you broke through my shield, I'd create another black hole around myself. You would obviously use some other energy-based attack to pierce through me that uses less energy than that Solarbeam attack!"

"And unfortunately for you…" said Jigglypuff, her body glowing with a yellow aura. "You'll be drained as well… _Mirror Coat!_"

BAM!

Black Shadow took double the power of his own black hole from a huge yellow beam, blown into a wall.

Jigglypuff dashed up to him and created three more clones of herself. Black Shadow recovered from the counter-attack, reacting with his own three clones.

"So what will the little puffball do next? Let us see!"

"You'll see soon enough… I'm much different than from before…"

"I should say the same for myself!"

"_Bounce!_"

One Jigglypuff stood on top of another. The bottom Jigglypuff flattened; then she puffed herself up instantly, sending the top Jigglypuff shooting towards the Black Shadows faster than Captain Falcon could run! The other pair of Jigglypuffs used this maneuver at the same time, so two Jigglypuffs were flying at the Black Shadow clones.

Black Shadow couldn't react quickly enough, but all of them were already splitting into black particles, allowing the two Jigglypuffs to pass through. However, the two Jigglypuff clones were holding hands, a familiar beam of yellow light charging…

"_Solarbeam!_"

By this time, Black Shadow's reactions were up to date and he reacted by spreading himself and all of his clones as far apart as they could. The enormous, wide, yellow beam of light still engulfed two clones, completely annihilating them.

At this point, the two Jigglypuff clones flying from the bounce attacks slammed into the wall so hard that they popped. One Black Shadow charged a dark attack, aiming it at the ground.

"_Dark Void!_"

He shot a huge dark energy ball at the ground, causing the entire cavern ground to be engulfed in dark energy. Jigglypuff had no choice but to jump into the air.

"The air is my specialty!" The other Black Shadow cried. (The one who shot the Dark Void attack is still recovering)

"Same here!" Jigglypuff replied.

Black Shadow shot his right hand out, releasing several dark darts at Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff twirled her leg in the air, blocking all of them (yet still receiving small minor cuts on her leg).

The other Black Shadow was directly behind Jigglypuff and fired a Dark Pulse attack. Jigglypuff turned around just to feel the full blast in her face.

She… turned into a puff of smoke!

Black Shadow was momentarily confused. _Wait, there were two more clones left on the ground… Where did the real puffball go?_

"_Psychic!_"

Black Shadow's clone popped into darkness as the real Black Shadow lost control of his mind and body. Jigglypuff, using much of her own energy to take control of Black Shadow, prevented him from separating himself into particles, just as she did as part of her finishing combo back on the Halberd.

"_Swords Dance! _Followed by…" Jigglypuff landed on top of Black Shadow's body, about to use her trump.

RESTED!

"A perfect clone… I control how it is destroyed…" said Black Shadow as he saw his own body shoot through the cavern ground. Jigglypuff was momentarily asleep; already believing the battle was won. There was a loud poof as the clone that was struck by rest disappeared into black smoke. "You fell for my trap. I knew you were overconfident, already pulling out your trump card." Black energy beam began rising around Jigglypuff. "This takes a few seconds to charge, and I might as well charge it while you're just about to wake up…"

Jigglypuff began to stir awake, but it was too late. The beams created a cage of darkness around her, and before she knew what was coming…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

**Kzap BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!**

Black electricity shot from every angle inside the cage, each striking Jigglypuff. There was a brief pause, then over a million bolts of dark electricity shot through her.

"A small taste of my trump card…" said Black Shadow. "I am not foolish enough to use my full power and waste my energy on small prey, particularly if I do not need to use Ren Kiu… I do not need to hunt for a rabbit with a cannon."

Jigglypuff's body was smoking, and she was lying on the ground, electricity still flowing through her. She began to climb back on her feet.

"You need more convincing? _Dark Pulse!_"

Jigglypuff coughed, then she cried, "_Mirror Coat!_"

"…Did I mention that words can be deceiving?"

Instead of a dark beam, dark darts shot from Black Shadow's hand and struck Jigglypuff. Mirror Coat did not work against physical attacks; that was Counter's job. Jigglypuff began to bleed a little, staggering. She closed her eyes, blue light flying around her as she whispered, "_Recover…_"

"No recovery for you! _Reflect!_"

A dark barrier appeared around Jigglypuff, deflecting Jigglypuff's healing move. The effects of Recover returned to Black Shadow, which wasn't really necessary since he never got hurt nor used any of his energy yet.

"Down already? I expected much from the one who defeated me before without Ren Kiu. Problem is, I grew strong too," said Black Shadow, taking steps towards Jigglypuff. "And now to finish the job…" Black Shadow began to charge several black orbs…

"…**Psych!**" Jigglypuff cried, smiling. "_U-Turn!_"

Because Black Shadow was in the middle of charging an attack, he was vulnerable, and Jigglypuff glowed green. She shot at Black Shadow, arced in the air, and struck him by the side, then she shot towards the wall and into darkness, nowhere to be seen by her opponent.

Although Black Shadow wasn't very injured, he was most certainly surprised.

"So you want to play hide-and-seek, right?"

"Of course!" Jigglypuff's voice echoed through the cavern room. "After all, you're the one who underestimated me already!"

"Indeed… A small error on my part. _Dark Void!_"

Black Shadow covered the ground in darkness again, forcing whoever was standing on it to go into the air. Immediately he heard several figures jumping into the air. Where she was, he did not know, but he knew that he caught Jigglypuff off guard. Hearing several footsteps was also a sign that Jigglypuff had cloned herself.

Clearly Jigglypuff did not want Black Shadow to know that she cloned herself at this moment, but he still didn't know how many Jigglypuffs there were…

Black Shadow looked around himself, seeing nothing but darkness through the caverns. He knew Jigglypuff and her clones were somewhere in the air, and he had to prepare himself for anything…

Several seconds passed in silence. The dark mist on the ground began to fade away again. Black Shadow simply stood there, moving nothing but his eyes.

"_Spikes!_"

Several black urchin-shaped objects were scattered everywhere across the ground, covering every inch. Black Shadow immediately fired a dark missile upwards without looking to destroy a Jigglypuff clone.

"Spikes? What is this, some kind of joke?"

"_Stealth Rock!_"

Several spiky brown stones were now levitating in the air, not anywhere near Black Shadow.

Another Jigglypuff exploded from a missile.

"_Earthquake!_"

Black Shadow immediately leapt into the air to avoid a huge quake on the ground and he was in the air, surrounded by the spiky rocks.

"…I see…"

"_Moonlight!_"

Light shone on top of Black Shadow, blinding him temporarily. However, he didn't know that this ability also healed a part of Jigglypuff's energy, wherever the real Jigglypuff was.

When Black Shadow could see again, he was surrounded by about ten Jigglypuffs, all standing on the levitating rocks.

"_Focus Blast!_"

All ten Jigglypuffs charged their fists, then fired a huge blast of pure energy. All of them were off aim, all extremely inaccurate, but two were aimed correctly at Black Shadow.

Because of most of the misaimed blasts, however, Black Shadow had little room to run since he was surrounded by beams of energy.

"Ugh!!"

After quickly observing his surroundings, he flew to his left. Although it was impossible to dodge all beams for him, he minimized the damage he took by only scraping the side of one beam.

Suddenly, he noticed he was flying into one of those levitated rocks!

CRASH!

The rock exploded, sending spikes everywhere and embedding themselves into Black Shadow, who is now physical thanks to the beam he was struck by.

"Ugh…" Black Shadow groaned. "An interesting set-up you've put me in… However!"

His body disappeared. "That is not the real me."

"Then I'll just have to hunt you down!" Jigglypuff's voice echoed through the room.

"But your plan will fail…"

KABOOM!

A dark explosion engulfed all ten Jigglypuffs, destroying all of them completely. Nobody was in sight at the moment yet. The real Jigglypuff and Black Shadow were well hidden, away from each other's sight.

However, if one were to stand in the middle of the room, he or she would hear very silent whispering.

Jigglypuff and Black Shadow came at each other at once.

"_Flash!_"

"_Dark Barrier!_"

Jigglypuff let loose a huge harmless flash of light, but Black Shadow shielded himself from it with a huge barrier around him. He immediately charged his hand, taking away all of the sudden light in the room. Jigglypuff was nowhere to be seen again.

"Hmph! I believe I should bring this up one level…"

"I have more tricks up my sleeves!" Jigglypuff's voice rang through the room.

Black Shadow concentrated his energy into his surroundings, dark particles floating around him.

Another few seconds passed in silence. The particles around Black Shadow began to grow bigger and bigger, destroying all of the spikes around himself when Jigglypuff finally realized her mistake.

A Jigglypuff clone came out of nowhere and threw her fist at Black Shadow, but the moment she came close, she disintegrated.

"Your mistake here is allowing me free time to charge! Your methods right now involve coming at me when I am vulnerable!" said Black Shadow. "But clearly I am not close to vulnerable at the moment! You are finished! _Black Hole!_"

A huge dark spherical hole materialized right above Black Shadow. This was much different from the other dark hole traps he made before. Instantly, all of the pointed rocks were drawn in, as well as over twenty Jigglypuff clones. Finally, the real Jigglypuff came into sight, about to be drawn into the hole.

"No!" Jigglypuff cried as she was in the air, being pulled in along with several other parts of the cavern walls. She briefly looked at a cavern wall that was strong enough to not be pulled in…

"Take this!" Black Shadow cried as he strengthened the force of the black hole.

Immediately, Jigglypuff closed her eyes and concentrated on that area…

_I've never actually used this in battle because it'd be too taxing, and I wouldn't be able to concentrate properly…_

_Can I do it?_

"_Teleport!_"

Jigglypuff disappeared within a blink of an eye, but instead of teleporting behind the cavern wall, she teleported directly above the black hole, doing absolutely nothing.

"Crap!" She cried as she flew in, realizing that she failed.

Black Shadow closed the hole as she fell in, smirking. "You are no match for me… And now, CRUSH!"

A scream rang through the room, and Jigglypuff popped out from the ground, bloody and beaten.

"Ha… ha…" Jigglypuff panted. "Those rocks… my spikes… and rocks… and walls all… crushed me…"

"Exactly what I did when you were in the dark dimension," said Black Shadow. "I focused on one object that was sucked in. Immediately I make everything else close in on it. Your spikes and stealth rocks have harmed you more than they have harmed me…"

Jigglypuff stood up, staggering. "But… It's not done yet…"

"Oh yes, it's not done yet. I honestly expect more from you!"

"Tch…" Jigglypuff charged a rollout, sparkling with yellow light.

"Combining a physical attack with light? That's interesting…" said Black Shadow as he prepared to defend himself.

"Not!" Jigglypuff shot away from Black Shadow and into the shadows again, where nobody could see her.

"…Not once, but twice have you lied. All right, we'll see if you learned from your mistakes…" said Black Shadow as he began to charge another black hole.

Time passed by as Black Shadow continued to charge. Jigglypuff made absolutely no noise at all.

"Black Hole!"

Again, the hole appeared above Black Shadow, about to bring in everything once again.

Jigglypuff was soaring above in the air, but she seemed completely cured and unharmed!

"What?" Black Shadow said, but Jigglypuff also had something in her hands…

"_Solarbeam!_"

BOOM!

The beam of light combated the hole of darkness and there was a huge explosion. Black Shadow was sent plowing through walls, entrapped by light.

"You should've known that I'd take advantage of your thinking…" said Jigglypuff, standing over Black Shadow's body. "I used the time to sleep and use rest to heal myself, when you thought I'd be looking for a weakness. Also, I had enough time to charge a silent Solarbeam."

"…Not bad…" said Black Shadow as he stood up again. "But I'm not that easy!"

POOF!

Black Shadow created four clones of himself once again. Jigglypuff had created so many clones before that she couldn't make anymore for a while, so she was by herself.

Easy. "_Agility!_" Jigglypuff cried. She sped around the clones, beating them up mercilessly with her renewed energy.

Jigglypuff punched one into the air then pursued it, using a pound attack. That pound attack was so powerful that the clone was destroyed in an instant! Jigglypuff immediately whirled around and shot to her right with a rollout to avoid several dark needles. She turned to see several small dark hole traps all over the walls.

"_Shadow Ball!_"

Jigglypuff aimed a shadow ball at the dark holes and fired. It did absolutely nothing, but it caused Jigglypuff to stop in midair and shoot away from the wall. She landed on another clone that was about to slash her.

"_Bounce!_"

Jigglypuff kicked off of that Black Shadow while squishing herself, destroying it in an instant. At the speed of sound, she shot at another clone and crashed into it and the ground. Because she was a soft puffball, she wasn't hurt from hitting the floor. The third clone was destroyed though.

Black Shadow had himself and one clone left, still trapped by light.

"So I had time to create several traps for you, all strong enough so you can't run over them with that speed," said Black Shadow. "What are you going to do… what?"

"Surf!"

The entire room was engulfed by a huge tidal wave, engulfing Black Shadow and destroying his clone. In an instant, the water all disappeared, but Black Shadow coughed out water, pain stinging through his lungs.

"What now? At this rate you'll die because I had the time to renew myself…" said Jigglypuff. "While you're not completely renewed."

"…Ha… The reason why you defeated me on the Halberd… I couldn't use Ren Kiu… But now it is time for me to show you my true potential…" said Black Shadow.

Jigglypuff stood her guard, preparing herself.

"I am the dark envoy of the shadows! I control this atmosphere! Ren Kiu! Come, Absolute Darkness!!"

* * *

"I wonder how Jigglypuff's doing out there…" Pikachu said to himself. "Now that Mewtwo's dead and Pichu's at the smash mansion, I wonder what the last pokemon is doing…"

Pikachu was rocking back and forth in a small wooden chair, drinking from a ketchup bottle. Ash and his other friends were out buying food for a quick picnic between them and their pokemon. He was staring up into the skies when suddenly a star flew through.

"What? That's… Peach… She's calling a gathering of smashers? She probably knows about that big Ring of Darkness stuff!"

Pikachu jumped out of his chair. "…I have to tell Ash that I have to leave him again… I'll just point up into the sky! Yeah!" Pikachu got on his four legs and made a dash towards the shop ahead.

_She's probably learned a whole bunch of stuff by now… I'm jealous. I'm only a master of electricity. I need to train myself with her and the other smashers… So I can learn more abilities that can help. Something I have that she doesn't, though, is complete mastery of natural abilities. Maybe she'll master that?_

* * *

Darkness. Darkness. Darkness.

_No. This can't be. I can't see. Nobody can see. I can't hear. I can't see myself. I can't touch. Who am I? What is going on? I'm floating. Nothing. Absolute. Fear. All I feel. Fear. I am pokemon._

Darkness… Darkness… Darkness…

Jigglypuff could not think straight. Darkness was exactly what described Black Shadow's Ren Kiu. Jigglypuff was now in a world full of darkness. It was worse than when she was trapped in a black hole, because she was only in there for a few seconds of torture. But this… This induces fear in you.

Jigglypuff began to cry. She had no courage anymore. No confidence. She was going to lose. There was no way she could get out of this. What is going on?

_The only ones who have not turned to insanity in this world are Wolf, Metaknight, the master, and of course I. That puffball will die now. She will wallow in self-pity and kill herself. Torture herself into insanity._

"Nothing… nothing… I can't see…" Jigglypuff whimpered. "Can I live? I'm going to die… No…"

_Yes… Fall into despair…_

"Somebody? Help me! Please!"

_Scream! Scream all you want! Nobody can help you now!_

"…Samus? Captain Falcon? Fox? Luigi? Pikachu? Link? Peach? Pit? Anyone? Please…"

_Your friends cannot here you…_

"No… Somebody… Get me out… I feel… lonely… alone…"

_You are alone! Nobody will help you! Nobody cares about you!_

"Yeah… that's true… nobody really cares… Nobody's coming to help me…"

_Accept it! Your friends are not your true friends!_

"I have no friends…"

_Yes! You have no friends! They all hate pokemon! All you pokemon should be enslaved for humans!_

"…Why am I… Why did I change…"

_The right thing to do… the entire time… Was to go back to your rebellious ways to kill… Killing humans._

"…That sounds great… They only abuse. And especially since my human friends aren't friends…"

_But nobody loves you any longer. Not even your pokemon fellows. They do not remember you, do they? They all use you all the time…_

"…use… I'm used by humans all right…"

_Damn straight._

"…I'm scared…" Jigglypuff began to shake, her fists clenched. Her lips began bleeding and her eyes watered even more.

Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear.

_Feel fear! Feel it! Loneliness! You are nothing! You are nothing to anybody!_

"…" Jigglypuff pointed her fist at herself, charging a meteor mash…

_Yes. You are unloved. Your existence is futile. You do not deserve to live…_

"Deserve… life…" Jigglypuff whispered like a drone.

_You are only used for other purposes! You are like Samus! You are only used for others' selfishness!_

"…I'm used… all the time…" She slammed her own fist into her own body. "I'm alone!" She repeatedly punched herself, bleeding from the eyes and mouth. "Nobody! Nobody! Everyone hates me!"

_Yes! This is the truth!_

_But is the truth real?_

_Yes! This is the truth! Believe me! I know what I am talking about!_

_Hm, but how do I know?_

_Trust me. Look at these images. Look at that memory of you being beaten for being a useless pokemon. Look at that memory of everyone sleeping because your singing is boring. Look at that memory of you rebelling because you're being used. You're useless!_

* * *

_"Anything to get rid of those damn fucking humans!"_

_"Yawn… That was a nice rest… What? Brock, your face! Misty, yours too! Ah ha ha!!"_

_"No… What did I do to get run over? What did I do?"_

* * *

_Are you sure this is the truth? Because when I look at past memories…_

_Yes! This is the truth! Nobody looks at you as a friend!_

* * *

_"Are you okay, Jigglypuff?"_

_"Come on, Jigglypuff! Join us! Ash and the others would like your company!"_

_"You're a smasher now… You helped us defeat Master Hand, Jigglypuff. I, Mario, will not let you reject your position! From now on, you're a part of our community! We are now twelve!"_

_"Jigglypuff! What happened to her? She's all bloody! And… Why are there… dead pokemon here?"_

_"Ash! We have to take her to the pokemon center! Now!"_

* * *

_No… Those are fake memories. They do what they did to show that they are good. You are lonely! Alone!_

"Lonely!!" Jigglypuff cried, still beating herself almost to death.

_Ah… But… How is that so? I remember months ago on the Silph Co…_

* * *

"_Jigglypuff… You may have been the evilest tyrant of all. You may have wanted a human genocide, and I'm a human as well. You may have killed all of your allies, and countless lives. You may have believed in Mewtwo. But guess what? I don't give a fucking shit."_

_"No... you don't..."_

"…_I'll take care of this pussy cat. But think about it. Remember, even if you hate humans, even after all those shitty things you did… I don't give a damn._

_You know why? Because you're my friend," said Captain Falcon.  
_

**You're my friend.**

**You're my friend.**

**You're my friend.**

_Captain Falcon would say... "You're my friend, damn it, and you better know it well, no matter how sexy I am..."_

* * *

"**He's my friend!!**" Jigglypuff cried, breaking out of her own world. She was still in the world of darkness and her body was beaten from over a hundred meteor mashes to herself. She looked around herself.

Everyone was still the same. She couldn't see. She couldn't hear. She couldn't feel.

But there was one big difference.

She remembered.

_I remember… Captain Falcon… I'm his friend. And if he's my friend… So are the others._

_I am not alone. I can win._

That difference was pessimism. It was no longer death and loneliness. It was now confidence and friendship.

"Black Shadow! You can't defeat me from making me believe I am alone!" Jigglypuff cried out. "Why? Because I have friends! Everywhere!"

SLISH SLASH!

Jigglypuff grunted as she felt a few slashes, covering her wounds with dark, painful particles.

"Physical pain… Won't change me! I have seen through your Ren Kiu, Black Shadow!"

"Well well… My first true opponent that has truly broken through. All other victims aside from my allies have committed suicide, but not you… Interesting… We'll see how you'll fare when I move on the physical offensive!"

"I'm ready… I can't see… I can't hear… but… I'm not alone! I know that! Darkness makes people feel alone, but I am not alone!"

"That psychology won't save you from my attacks!" Black Shadow's voice echoed as invisible slashes struck Jigglypuff a few more times. "Even your light attacks won't light up this world! You are trapped in blindness!"

Jigglypuff staggered, completely injured from her near-suicide.

* * *

_"You're asking me how I just react so damn fast, Jiggs?"_

_"Yep!"_

_"Well if you're a sexy racer that hits on Samus all day…"_

_KABOOM!_

_"Ow… Well… I act… on instincts all the time… It helps…"_

_"More like you get beaten by Samus more often!"_

_"…Ha ha… but that's because… she can't stand my sexiness…"_

_KABOOM!_

* * *

"Protect!" Jigglypuff cried, instinctively feeling something about to attack her.

CLANG!

"What?" Black Shadow said.

"I hear you!" Jigglypuff whirled to her right and shot her arm out, grabbing a cloak. She drew Black Shadow in and charged her other fist…

"Focus Blast!"

KABOOM!

Black Shadow, although invisible, was still blasted away by a beam of energy.

"Acting by instincts really helps…" Jigglypuff said to herself.

"…" Black Shadow said nothing. Suddenly, Jigglypuff was slowly drawn in one direction.

"Black Hole? I see now…" She closed her eyes momentarily. When she was inches from the invisible spherical hole…

_I am not alone!_

"Teleport!!"

_Focus on where I want to teleport…_

_In this case, who I want to teleport to…_

"Solarbeam!!"

Jigglypuff had teleported directly behind Black Shadow, and although she couldn't see him, she still struck him with a beam of light.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

_Solarbeam shoots people in the direction of the beam… In this case, about forty-five degrees to my right…_

"Followed by Flamethrower!!"

FOOOOOOOM!!

"ARGH!!"

Black Shadow was burned, entrapped by light.

"Ha… So… I have something else up my sleeves…" Black Shadow said.

_He's no longer one. I can tell. I can feel it. Instincts… I can feel it._

_How can I hit him in this state?_

Jigglypuff was running out of energy. She had to finish this. Quick. She was kneeling from fatigue, almost dying.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!

Jigglypuff was pummeled on the spot by several dark fists from the ground, similar to that of Captain Falcon. Jigglypuff fell on her back, almost unable to move.

"Ugh…"

"You can't finish me. I have much more stamina," Black Shadow's voice boomed through the room. "A simple Solarbeam can't finish me any longer."

"I got it…_Hypervoice!!_"

A huge boom resonated from Jigglypuff's mouth. Black Shadow yelled in pain, unable to hold his ears because he was not in his human state.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

"Got ya!" Jigglypuff concentrated all of her energy into where she heard the scream, then cried, "_Thunder!_"

KERZAP!!

Several bolts, much more accurately now, zapped Black Shadow on the spot, electrifying him. He was now smoking black, and even almost visible to Jigglypuff.

"But… you're still in darkness!"

"No! Not any longer!"

Jigglypuff ran up to Black Shadow and pounded his head with a metal fist.

CLANG!

Black Shadow was sent flying away. He kneeled up to see a ghost image of Fox, Samus, Captain Falcon, and Luigi above Jigglypuff. He saw another image of Pikachu and Ash above Jigglypuff.

"I have friends. I have light. And I can see! You can't beat me now!"

"Fine! I will finish you with this move! Dark Matter!!"

Dark Violet Particles enclosed themselves around Jigglypuff, firing several beams repeatedly at her. They began to form a cage around her, firing more beams than before.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!

Jigglypuff screamed. Her limp body fell to the ground, almost unable to move.

"No…"

"Ha! You thought you could defeat me, even after conquering the darkness! I tell you… You can't beat me!"

_I still have one more thing… Using anything else will be… Wait…_

"…Black Shadow…" Jigglypuff used her energy to muster. "I have… one more thing…"

Black Shadow was still in particles, but he was clearly happy about almost killing Jigglypuff. "Too bad. You lose."

The particles around Jigglypuff were about to fire more beams, but Jigglypuff was finally using one signature move that she neglected to use for months and months…

"…Jig… al-eeee puuuuuuuuuuuf… Aleee puuuuuuuuuuu… uuuuuuuuuuuf…"

Jigglypuff sang, lying on the ground. The voice was so beautiful, so purifying, so peaceful that the dark world around them seemed to disappear, revealing the cavern walls around her gradually. She saw Black Shadow's body forming again, him asleep.

She continued to sing, taking this moment to relive her singing days.

_It's been so long… I now know it's a lullaby…_

_I have to stop though. He'll only be asleep for about three seconds. That's all the time I need for this finishing combo…_

Jigglypuff stopped singing. Black Shadow stopped snoring.

_Exactly three seconds. Let's go!_

"Double Team!"

Jigglypuff created four clones of herself. One clone used Swords Dance then it landed on another and used rest.

At the moment the second clone was rested, it used counter, shooting a beam of yellow light at another clone. The second clone was instantly destroyed at the same time. The yellow beam of light, with double the power of a beefed up rest, struck the third clone, but it used counter while it was destroyed and pointed it at the fourth clone.

At this point, one second has passed. Jigglypuff cried, "Wish!"

_When the real attack hits me, I have to use counter to finish off Black Shadow. But if I don't activate wish so it heals me at the same time, I will die… I must not have the timing off…_

Suddenly, Black Shadow opened his eyes and saw the fourth clone destroyed by the chained counter, but also releasing counter at the first clone that started the combo. This beam now had eight times the power of a beefed up rest.

"No! I will not let you!" Black Shadow released several dark nails.

_Crap! He woke up two seconds too early! This might screw up my timing!_

_I won't let him stop me!_

The real Jigglypuff jumped in front of the first Jigglypuff that was about to get struck by counter. She took the hit from the dark nails, blood dripping from wherever it didn't drip before. The first Jigglypuff was now destroyed but released another counter at the real Jigglypuff.

_I have to wait one more second. I have to have counter and wish hit me at the same time._

"…Woke up too early, eh?" asked Black Shadow. "Black Hole once more!"

The beam began to curve in the air, about to be sucked by the black hole.

"NO!"

Jigglypuff jumped into the black hole. The beam was sucked into the hole. Black Shadow smirked as he closed in the hole.

After one last second, Jigglypuff popped out of the ground, unconscious.

"Ha… You're dead now…" said Black Shadow. "…Finally…"

Jigglypuff's body was about to explode with energy.

"…C-c-… counter…"

Black Shadow's eyes widened as the final huge beam of light approached. It was much more threatening than his own Ren Kiu of darkness. Especially since it had the power of thirty-two beefed up rests.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!"

**KABOOM!!**

Black Shadow's body was in the air, entrapped by light. Suddenly, he exploded, with all of the dark particles destroyed by light. There was no trace left of him. Black Shadow was dead. The entire cavern was devastated. The floor was gone, and all of the walls were gone.

Jigglypuff was on a small pillar that remained before. After being struck by the power of sixteen rests, and then being briefly healed, she was clearly exhausted. However, she was smiling. Smiling that she defeated her eternal opponent.

Smiling that she really had the friends to pull her through the world of darkness.

Victor: Jigglypuff


	89. Chapter 89: The Mind Form

Hack: Judging from the title of this chapter, and the titles of the previous two chapters, you can tell that the Fox versus Metaknight fight won't end in this chapter! Especially since it isn't titled 'Fox vs. Metaknight", just the first, short part of it that will lead into the big fun bulk. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 89: The Mind Form**

Starting from the beginning of the fight, before Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff destroyed all of the walls around…

Fox immediately split his staff into two, his clothes changing colors. His blaster in his pocket turned into a dark shade of violet as well.

"I've trained myself to the max…" he said. "And I promise you that I'm going to take you down in this last fight…"

"Excellent resolve… I hope you won't disappoint me!" said Metaknight, drawing his sword back. "And I see you were able to summon your Brave Form without calling it out… A sign of control. I doubt I will be disappointed! I will not hold anything back. Be prepared, Fox McCloud!"

Metaknight whirled his cloak around once and disappeared into thin air. Fox immediately held his two staffs in front of him then swung them around with incredible speed, blocking several huge invisible slashes. Fox immediately sheathed one of his staffs and drew his powered blaster, firing violet plasma shots at nowhere. He heard a sword swinging, deflecting each shot.

"I've implemented my staff's powers into more of my weapons…" said Fox, charging his blaster. "If you haven't noticed already, because it should be a bit harder to block these shots now."

"Well, well… We'll see about that…"

Fox smirked as he pointed his blaster to his right, firing about ten fully-charged violet shots at the speeding Metaknight. Metaknight immediately stopped in place, visible. He immediately swung his sword everywhere in front of him, deflecting every blaster shot back at Fox.

Fox immediately turned on his reflector, which glowed red instead of blue now, and deflect every single shot back at Metaknight.

Actually, because Metaknight shot them back so quickly, Fox's reflector deflected one shot but it broke. He was so fast, however, that he took out another reflector and reflected another shot! He repeated this so quickly that it seemed like he was using one powerful reflector when he actually destroyed ten reflectors.

"Urg…" Metaknight grumbled. "I guess I have to work harder to stop deflecting and start slicing these…" he said as he sliced each and every blaster shot in half, the halves flying to his sides and missing.

Fox stood in place, waiting for Metaknight's next move. He now knew.

Metaknight stood there as well, staring at Fox.

_Now I know… Metaknight's a defensive fighter. He waits for my moves, then makes an attack on any vulnerable spots. This suites him best because his accuracy and timing is incredible. If I force him on the offensive…_

Fox simply stared back at Metaknight.

"So… going to do anything?" asked Metaknight.

"Not until you make a move," said Fox.

"I see. So we'll have to play the waiting game then."

Five seconds passed in silence. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. One minute. Five minutes.

KABOOM!

Black Shadow came crashing in between the two. Fox and Metaknight were about to charge forward, thinking that the other attacked, and both sliced through Black Shadow, missing each other.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"…Thank god I can split…" said Black Shadow, feeling no pain. "Sorry to crash in on you." He jumped out, and Fox and Metaknight followed him to see Jigglypuff, Wolf, and Captain Falcon.

"Hey, do you mind not destroying this cavern anymore?" asked Fox. "We're starting to lose space here, you know."

"I concur," said Metaknight. "We need to find a different dueling area."

Jigglypuff pointed to her right. "You both should go a floor down and past those walls. I doubt we'll break through your fight if you're far enough."

"Thanks," Fox and Metaknight both said as they both dashed away, hacking at each other with staffs and sword.

* * *

Now we move to the present.

Fox blocked a vertical slash by holding his staffs in a cross position in front of him. He pushed Metaknight's sword away and shot them both forward at the hovering Metaknight. Metaknight, with his smaller body, spun his spherical body, then shot himself at Fox's chest. Fox tumbled, and Metaknight leapt off of Fox, pointing his sword down. Metaknight fell down at sonic speeds, about to stab Fox with his sword.

KRZAP!

At the last millionth of a millisecond, Fox activated his powered reflector just as the sword struck him. Electricity zapped through the sword and through Metaknight's hands, knocking him out through the air. Metaknight crashed into the wall, making rocks tumble on top of him.

Fox's reflector was that much more powerful. It was his eleventh one that he broke too.

Fox stuck his two staffs together, making one staff made of two. One of them glowed red and the other blue. As he charged it, Metaknight sliced himself out of the rubble and got in a ready position.

This was all the time Fox needed.

Fox let loose a huge beam of fire and a huge beam of ice. They spiraled around each other, aiming for Metaknight. Metaknight, realizing that he won't be able to cut his way through this, swiftly dashed to his side. Fox pulled his staff to his right, causing the hybrid beam to curve through the air, shooting for Metaknight again. Metaknight simply jumped to his side again, and Fox pulled his staff to his right, continuing to pursue the speedy warrior.

_I won't get anywhere with this except wasting energy…_

Fox began to take several steps forward with each tug, getting closer and closer to the defending Metaknight who was busy dodging the beam of fire and ice. Soon, Fox was in range. He released the beam from his staff, relieving himself from the beam, and charged forward at Metaknight, who had his sword pointed at Fox.

They were in another dreadlock. Metaknight blocked Fox's two staffs with one swipe of his sword. Metaknight immediately jumped over Fox, about to slash Fox. Fox whirled around to block the slash.

"Are you sure? That beam you let out will come at you," said Metaknight.

The beam of fire and ice was still curving in the air, pointed at the two. However, Fox was in between now!

Fox activated his twelfth reflector, deflecting the beam at Metaknight. The reflector instantly broke from the insane power, but Fox escaped in time. Metaknight simply moved to his right to dodge it, especially since Fox had no more control over the beam.

"Argh… I can't seem to hit you…" said Fox.

"Well I never struck a hit on you yet either. Quite impressive," said Metaknight.

"Then use your Ren Kiu."

"I don't believe you've proven yourself worthy yet…"

"…Then…I will right now… _Level three…_"

Metaknight put his sword in front of him, in a defensive position.

"…_Mind Form…_"

Fox's body glowed. His clothes were now blue, and his staffed glowed silver. All of his weapons were glowing as well. Most importantly, however, his two staffs were floating!

"Levitation, eh? This should be much more interesting!" said Metaknight.

"…Bring it on…" said Fox.

Fox charged at Metaknight. He held two blasters, one in each hand, and sent the two staffs flying at Metaknight with his mind. Metaknight blocked both quickly in succession, just to see two instantly charged plasma shots flying at him! Metaknight immediately jumped backwards, just to see the two staffs flying at him again! This time, they were aimed at his sides. The cavern wall was directly behind Metaknight as well.

Fox, levitating the blasters to his side, drew his sniper rifle, which was now glowing green, and fired a huge explosive shot at the trapped Metaknight. He could not escape because of the plasma shots in front of him and the staffs to his sides, and the wall behind him.

But wait…

KABOOM!

Fox smirked. "How was that?"

"Not bad… The trap was planned well, something I expected from Black Shadow," said Metaknight. "But I was not harmed at all…"

The wall from Metaknight was cut apart. Metaknight had escaped behind him by cutting through the wall, avoiding the huge explosion from the powerful sniper rifle.

"Not bad… But take a look at this speed…" said Fox, levitating in the air now. The two staffs and blasters were now flying around him randomly, following no particular pattern.

"Huh?"

BAM! BAM!

Metaknight was caught by surprise. He barely deflected a charged blaster shot, just to be struck by a staff flung at him. Metaknight dashed to the side, staring at the offensive, stationary Fox. The thrown staff came back to Fox.

"I see… so the flying weapons make it so I cannot predict what you will do," said Metaknight.

"Precisely."

_Come on. You have no choice but to move on to the offensive, Metaknight!_

"So that leaves me one choice…"

Metaknight flew up at Fox, using a powerful vertical slash. With his mind, Fox made one staff barely block the sword by levitating it horizontally. Fox twirled his hand and made the other staff shoot behind Metaknight, pointing at him. Fox pointed the two blasters at Metaknight's sides and the sniper rifle above Metaknight while in the dreadlock in midair. He fired his weapons. The staff shot from behind Metaknight, the blasters shot at Metaknight's sides, and the sniper rifle prevented Metaknight from escaping upwards.

Metaknight shot himself downward, his only escape route. Fox shot down with him, both staffs now pointed vertically and shooting down as well. Both staffs struck the ground, releasing powerful red shockwaves along the ground. Metaknight, not expecting this at all, was struck by both simultaneously, sent flying into the walls again.

"What's wrong? I've never been hit before yet. I expected much more from you," said Fox.

"Not bad…" said Metaknight. "Forcing me on the offensive… You have figured it out, haven't you?"

"Of course," said Fox.

BAM! BAM!

The staff shot through Metaknight again, followed by a huge blaster shot. Metaknight was sent plowing through walls again, unable to defend himself.

Metaknight, however, was now carrying his sword and one staff!

Fox immediately forced the staff to come back at him. The staff, however, drew Metaknight along with him! Fox, who was expecting the staff to fly out of Metaknight's hands, stared in horror as Metaknight flew to Fox's side, slicing through Fox's waist. Fox grunted as he lost control of his weapons briefly, all about to drop. Metaknight swooped in midair and disappeared. He instantly appeared on Fox's other side, holding his sword out. Fox, who had no weapons to defend himself with at the moment, was struck by a huge vertical invisible slash.

"Ugh!" Fox cried as he coughed out blood. He fell to the ground, where Metaknight sped underneath him, cutting his stomach lightly. Fox fell face flat on the ground, but he immediately got back on his feet, making a staff block another swift slash from Metaknight.

"I am not that easy," said Metaknight. "I see that… since I caught you by surprise, you lost power of your mind briefly."

_Shit! He figured it out already!_

"What do you know?" Fox spat out, firing double blaster shots at Metaknight again. Metaknight deflected both shots back at Fox. While Fox was deflecting the shots back by breaking two reflectors, Metaknight was flying at Fox, moving on the offensive! Surprised by this sudden change of tactic, Fox dropped his staffs and realized that Metaknight seriously figured out his Mind Form weakness already. He rolled forward underneath a huge horizontal swing, feeling his ears slightly cut.

"Ugh… So you did…" said Fox.

"I am a tactician as well," said Metaknight. "Tricking me will be more difficult than you think."

BOOM! BOOM!

Metaknight swiftly dodged two more sniper explosions. He looked up to see Fox how holding a staff in each hand physically.

"…So… we'll see about that…" said Fox as he hovered a few inches above the ground, facing Metaknight.

Fox charged. Metaknight charged as well.

CLANG!

Fox and Metaknight were facing in opposite directions now, each holding their respective weapons out. Fox had both of his staffs out, shining. Metaknight was holding only the hilt of his sword, which split into three pieces from Fox's staffs. Apparently if Fox was using his staffs with his hands physically, he was much more powerful in Mind Form…

Two huge gashes of blood splattered out from Metaknight's mask. Metaknight whirled around to face Fox again.

"You've got no weapon now, so what are you going to do?" asked Fox.

"…_Ren Kiu… Halcyon!!!!_"

SHING!


	90. Chapter 90: Fox vs Metaknight

Hack: A little foreshadowing, followed by the second half of the big fight. Who wins? You shall find out… Enjoy this anticlimactic fight.

* * *

**Chapter 90: Fox vs. Metaknight**

"Please… Forgive me…"

"I do not need your pathetic excuses. You informed me of how this world was the perfect base for our headquarters, particularly since pikmin was one of our three energy ingredients…"

"I have given you everything… But master, surely Metaknight and the others will defeat them?"

"Look! Look at this! Look at Wolf! Look at Black Shadow! They have already been defeated by Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff! They are growing stronger! Too powerful! You should have killed Luigi and Samus when you had the chance before executing Vaati!"

"But… I am not responsible… For the three others…"

"Perhaps, but you were unable to defeat Luigi even at your full power. I have no more use for you, Alex."

"Wait! Wait!" Alex cried desperately, just before the master was about to deal a fatal blow.

"Hm? What is it?"

"I know… I know… I can grow more powerful… Through Alchemy…"

"In Weyard?"

"Yes. I have the power of the Golden Sun, and I can unleash it completely… If I am in Weyard…"

"And about the Wise One? About Isaac? Surely if you were unable to defeat them, you cannot take care of the smashers…"

"Please, master! Give me one more chance!"

"You have failed to defeat Luigi and you have failed to provide me information on the whereabouts of the final ingredients, Doctor Mario's portion."

"I know that, and I deeply regret it…"

"Cleary you should be thankful for my mercy. Currently your power reaches only in the mid-two thousands with Ren Kiu, yet I surpass over a hundred thousand."

Alex shuddered at the thought of the master's infinite power.

"I will spare you, but this will be your last chance, Alex. Go to Weyard, kill Isaac, and get the power of the Golden Sun. It is one of the legendary powers, and unfortunately Luigi and Fox are realizing their full potential."

"I will not fail you, master. I will kill Isaac, overcome the Wise One, and eliminate these pests with the pure form of Alchemy."

* * *

Metaknight looked no different at all. He had no aura around himself, and his looks had not changed. Period.

But his Ren Kiu was in his sword. His sword, which was only twice as long as his small body (which really isn't that long), was now black. Spikes protruded from one side of the blade, with holes here and there for lightness. The blade curved at a small angle as well, emphasizing the power of the spiky edge. Finally, the Halcyon was now longer than Fox's staff. It was longer than twice that length. It was longer than Bowser's height. The sword was now about three times longer than his original sword.

Fox stood his guard, readying to defend himself.

SLASH!

Fox immediately send a staff upwards on his right, but it was knocked away by an incredibly powerful invisible slash, striking Fox in the arm. The moment the slash cut through Fox's arm, he was sent plowing through walls, just as the others were.

"Ugh… What?" _His slashes are so much more powerful now… I got caught off guard. I guess to match that power I need to physically hold my staffs…_

Fox stood on the ground again, Metaknight still standing in the same spot.

SLASH!

Fox blocked it by holding out one of his glowing staffs. The slash was successfully blocked, but the staff was sent flying out of his hand, shooting through the walls uncontrollably.

"I am waiting, Fox," said Metaknight, simply standing there.

"I'm coming!" Fox took a step forward, but…

SLASH!

He was forced to block another invisible slash with his other staff, now out of his hands. He had no weapons to defend himself now.

SLASH!

Fox immediately activated his red reflector, but it was no use. Even though he turned on the reflector the moment Metaknight hit him, the sword blocked the electricity from zapping the stationary Metaknight. It broke instantly and Fox took the blow in the chest.

For a split second, even though Fox was taking a huge deep cut across his chest, he saw an extended sword.

KABOOM!

Blood splattered everywhere as Fox crashed through the wall. Fox staggered, standing up.

…_Huh? I almost died when I got slashed… But now I can stand this time…_

_What's going on?_

He saw his chest briefly glowing, holding back the pain. Although Fox was still in much pain, at least he wasn't unconscious.

_Ow… I can't believe I can't stand up to him with anything… But that sword just now, it extended? So Metaknight can't run fast. He's slashing at infinite speeds… Very powerful too. How can I match up to that?_

SLASH!

Fox opened his eyes. He felt some sort of power running through him. He had no clue what it was, but he could see. He could see.

_Yes, I can see! That hit from before… I can see it now! It's… activated… Is this part of the Mind Form? The ability to see clearly?_

For a split millisecond, Fox saw.

He saw clearly the extended spiked sword tossed at him like a chain.

Fox immediately jumped into the ceiling, barely avoiding the huge slash. He levitated his two staffs back into his hands.

"So you read it now? You've definitely improved."

SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH!

Fox saw the sword coming at him in the air, shooting up vertically. He fired his sniper rifle to his right, using the momentum to push himself to his left. The ceiling was immediately destroyed.

A millisecond later, he saw the sword curving in the air and about to hit his side. He grabbed both of his staffs and blocked the sword with both.

Immediately, his staffs were sent flying again, but he successfully avoided damage.

"You idiot, that attack was angled purposely to send your staffs… flying at me," said Metaknight, catching Fox's two staffs."

"What?"

Fox, now noticing that Metaknight had his melee weapons, was caught off guard as another slash struck him in the chest. Blood spurted out again and he was… you guessed it, blown through walls again.

"Ugh…" Fox staggered.

"These staffs… surely quite powerful. However, it is too thin to block my sword!"

"We'll see about that!" Fox cried. He controlled the staffs telepathically, bringing the staffs back to him.

Uh oh, Metaknight was still holding on to them. He had his sword to the side while being pulled by Fox's staffs.

_Shit!_

Fox immediately fired his blaster, but Metaknight blocked it with his sword. When Metaknight was near Fox, Fox caught his staffs and was about to block but he was too late. Metaknight released a powerful direct slash across Fox's chest.

"…Right along your injury back on the Halberd in our second encounter…" said Metaknight as he felt blood on his face.

Fox spilled blood out of his mouth again.

"No…" he groaned, kneeling on the ground. "Not again… No…"

"You thought you were able to resist it now? A direct slash is much more deadly than my extended slash. It is similar to your telepathic powers. While your staffs are somewhat powerful when levitated, they are much more powerful when in your hands."

Fox used his right staff to prop himself up.

"I came here… To beat you…" he said, blood constantly dripping from his reopened wound. "This wound… Ness helped me with it… He said I'd die…"

"Correct, without aid you will die."

"But before I die… I will defeat you!!!"

Fox used all of his strength to dash forward at blinding speeds, holding his staffs out. Metaknight was standing there, releasing a few slashes.

When Fox took a slash in his right waist, before it went any deeper, he immediately pushed it away with both staffs backwards, not directly pushing it away but rather making it slide away. His staffs were not knocked away! He felt another slash on his neck, but before his head was cut off, he pushed it away. He still had a deep cut in his neck, but not too fatal yet.

He was directly in front of Metaknight now.

"Oh, this is how it's come now?" said Metaknight.

CLANG!

Fox brought his staffs down in an X fashion while Metaknight simply blocked both by shooting his sword vertically. There was a moment of silence.

KABOOM!

Blood exploded from Fox's chest, creating another deep wound. Fox was blown away, wall by wall, feeling his spine about to crack.

"Ugh!"

Fox propped himself briefly with his staffs.

"Done yet?" asked Metaknight.

…_Is this part of me? Or part of the staff's powers? Now that I can see Metaknight's sword fluently? I can't match it in strength… No way. I have to beat it with speed… That's his weakness. He doesn't run fast._

Fox shot at Metaknight again at blinding speeds. He let go of his staffs, making himself more vulnerable to Metaknight's extended slashes. The staffs flew around Metaknight, pointed behind him.

_I can see!_

Fox rolled, with perfect timing, below a horizontal slash that he depicted in a brief moment.

_This is it! That way!_

Fox skipped to the left while running, feeling a small cut on his right leg and arm.

_Bring it on, Metaknight!_

Fox jumped at Metaknight. He released a kick downward, only to be blocked by an invisible sword. He leaped off of Metaknight's block, pointing a glowing rocket launcher at Metaknight.

KABOOM!

He fired. The rocket went sailing through the air, aimed at Metaknight. Metaknight cut the rocket in half, causing the two halves to fly away from Metaknight, creating two separate explosions.

Fox shot himself down again, holding his leg out. Now the staffs were shooting at Metaknight at ground level from behind.

"You can't block this now!" Fox cried, ignoring an invisible slash on his arm.

CLANG!

Fox was very wrong. He saw a curved sword extend. It wrapped around Metaknight's body in a semicircle, blocking both staffs. It extended even further upwards, directly below Fox and blocking his feet.

"Too bad, I blocked it. RELEASE!"

KABAM!

Fox's blocked staffs were sent flying as the sword shot up directly below Fox. Fox leaned back, feeling the sword cut vertically through his body. He fell to the ground, blood gushing out even more!

"Agh!"

"I am sorely disappointed… You can't come close to matching my full power, Fox," said Metaknight. "Say good bye…"

Metaknight struck the ground with his sword, causing Fox's body to bounce up. He shot his sword forward, making it curve around Fox's body.

"…Wha?"

The sword began to cover Fox's body with metal. Soon, Fox's body was not visible; it was inside a case of metal.

"…RELEASE!"

Over several clangs were heard. Apparently blades were shooting from every inch of the metal barrier into Fox. Strange enough, Fox didn't cry out in pain.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Metaknight released Fox. Fox was only as bloody as before, but he was smirking.

"Remember, my staff can create… a barrier around me when I'm stationary…" said Fox.

"Hmph! So you got your staffs back before I was about to finish you off."

Fox's weapons, his staffs, blaster, sniper, and rocket launcher, began to whirl themselves around him with blinding speeds. "I still have strength… I will not stop until one of us dies…"

"I see… Well then, sorry to disappoint you, Fox."

"You can't break through this, they all move too fast. My weapons move so fast that you can't break through them…" said Fox as he began to dash at Metaknight, surrounded by his speedy weapons.

SHING!

"Ulp!"

Time seemed to stop briefly. Fox looked down. His weapons dropped. Metaknight had shot his sword at the speed of light through a miniscule gap in the barrier of weapons. The sword stopped. The tip of it was sticking out of Fox's back. It had shot through Fox's stomach.

Metaknight drew his sword out of Fox's stomach.

KABOOM!

There was a huge explosion right in front of Fox. His stomach opened, releasing blood everywhere as Fox was leaning against the wall, practically unconscious.

"N…No… Uh… Kr…" Fox tried to utter a noise from his mouth.

"You're finished, Fox. Unless you can pull some miraculous feat, I doubt that you will be able to stand in the next few minutes. Soon you will die from the sword's energy poison. I apologize, but that's how life goes. You are not as powerful as me."

Fox closed his eyes, blood flowing from his eyes and mouth. He was almost unrecognizable, covered completely in red blood. He struggled to lift a finger, but the gaping hole in his stomach was simply too much.

Metaknight turned around and began to walk away. "Your Mind Form was not enough… Good bye, Fox."

_No… I can't lose… There is no way I will lose… This is… my fifth and last fight… I promised that I will defeat him here… right here, right now…_

_I can't… But I can't recover… I can't survive… Mind Form isn't enough… I'm not strong enough…_

_But is there a power?_

_Huh?_

_Your staff is special. Krystal mentioned… Mind Form is level three._

_I haven't trained…_

…_You are determined, no?_

_Who are you?_

_I am a conscience… I am the spirit in the staff. You cannot lose yourself here right now. I represent the power of determination._

_What the… hell is this?_

_You, simply put, possess a legendary power…_

…_I don't believe you…_

_You do not know this power is one that can match up to the Endowment of Exigency?_

_No… I lost…_

_I will show you… You might die from the attempt though. Are you ready?_

…_I have nothing to lose… What is it…_

* * *

Jigglypuff woke up. She looked around herself, then finally realized…

…_I beat him… And I didn't die… Did I time it successfully?_

She stood up on her pudgy feet. It was silent, save for some distant footsteps.

_What about Captain Falcon? What about Fox?_

At about the same time, Captain Falcon woke up. He felt his broken bones in pain, but he was able to at least kneel on his knees.

_Oh man… That was painful…_

He cracked his knuckles, snapping his head back in place at the same time.

_Hm? There's nobody here, dude…_

"**Level four!!! ZERO FORM!!!"**

Jigglypuff's and Captain Falcon's pupils instantly shrank.

A huge blinding flash of white light emerged from a distant cave, and Fox was in the air, levitating. His clothes were now silver. The hole in his stomach was gone. He had no wounds any more.

Yet somehow he was still tired, and he was still exhausted. He felt like he was on the brink of death.

_This power is too much… Can I control it?_

Metaknight whirled around to see Fox's new form.

"What? You aren't finished? This is excellent!"

"Hell no. I'm here to beat you…" said Fox, now carrying only one long staff in his hand. It was now glowing silver. Energy was flying all around him, as if he was creating a hurricane around himself unconsciously.

"Awesome! I've been holding back my full potential of Ren Kiu, so… I believe I can use all I have now!"

"…Bring it on…"

SLISH!

Fox brought his long, powered staff up to block the attack, without staggering. Power was constantly flowing into him from the staff. He was, however, completely exhausted.

_How long can I keep this up?_

_As long as you need to._

_I feel like I'm going to explode._

_Then beat him before you do._

_But can I beat him?_

_With this power, you can._

_It feels like I barely match up to him, and he didn't even use his full power._

_Do not worry. I will guide you._

_Guide me? Who are you anyways?_

_Do not worry. Just go for it!_

…_I'll take your word for it…_

KERZAP!

Another slash was about to strike Fox on the head, but he instantly turned on his powered reflector; the reflector glowed through his body with rainbow colors. Electricity flowed through the invisible yet extended sword and through Metaknight, pushing him back and stopping his defensive onslaught.

Fox drew his blaster and fired. He did not need to charge, because every shot he fired were pre-charged. Every shot glowed with the colors of the rainbow as well. He fired rapidly, practically ten shots per second.

Metaknight recovered from the reflector-counter and saw the quick energy blasts flying towards him. He stood in place, barely swiping his sword around to block every shot and deflecting them back at Fox.

Fox began to run at Metaknight, firing shot after shot at Metaknight. Metaknight drew his sword back and released a huge vertical shockwave.

"Take this!"

A huge blast of wind shot through the entire room, destroying all of the blaster shots and blowing Fox away.

Fox immediately flipped in the air as quickly as Captain Falcon. He landed on the wall, stuck his staff into it, and released a huge explosion at the end. He shot at Metaknight at insane speeds, using his staff as a rocket.

CLANG!

They were in a dreadlock for a second. Fox immediately began to hack away ruthlessly at Metaknight, flying forward repeatedly. Metaknight was standing on the ground, taking individual steps backwards while blocking every slash. He grunted; he was beginning to have a little trouble blocking these slashes now.

"You can't use your extended attacks now!" Fox cried. "I'm attacking you too quickly to leave you any openings!"

"Gr…"

Fox was correct. Fox was attacking Metaknight so quickly that Metaknight could find no time to shoot his sword forward and switch to the offensive.

CLANG!

Fox shot his staff vertically down and Metaknight blocked it by holding his sword horizontally. He slid his sword to the side, creating several red sparks between the staff and sword. He pushed Fox's staff away, leaving Fox open, and released another invisible slash.

BAM!

SLASH!

Fox took the slash directly in the chest, but at the same time he fired another charged blaster shot and struck Metaknight's face head-on. Metaknight's mask was burnt and he was blown through the wall. Blood spurted out from Fox's wound.

Fox slammed the ground with his staff, forcing Metaknight to take flight. Fox flew up into the air as well, facing him in the air.

Fox fired at Metaknight, but Metaknight flew to the side and shot towards Fox. Fox blocked Metaknight's assault with his staff, but the moment he blocked Metaknight's sword, the tip of the sword shot out, curving around Fox's body and stabbed him through the back, protruding out of his stomach.

"AHHH!!!"

Metaknight retracted his sword, another new wound for Fox.

Fox threw his staff at Metaknight, who deflected it. The staff immediately turned around, split into two, and the two pieces flew around Metaknight. Metaknight blocked both staffs by curving his sword in the air.

Fox was directly in front of Metaknight now, kicking him in the face. Metaknight was knocked back a little, but Fox was now instantly below Metaknight, using a powerful upwards flip kick. Metaknight crashed through the ceiling, set on fire now with Fox's new form. Fox pursued Metaknight, using an upwards drill kick. Metaknight was stuck in place as Fox's two staffs shot from the sides, scratching his body.

Fox finally knocked Metaknight away, pounding him down with his tail. Metaknight regained his balance and brought his sword back.

"Tornado!"

Several vicious gray tornados were sent flying at Fox, who was still in the air. They were now approaching him from every direction. Fox spun his staff, creating a perfectly spherical blue barrier around himself and deflecting the tornados. However, when he was retracting his shield, Metaknight was in front of him! Metaknight swirled his cloak around, the shadows below his cloak covering Fox. He disappeared instantly as the room turned pitch black.

"Galaxia Darkness!!!!"

_No longer… I can't… It's impossible…_

_You can do it. Believe in yourself! Believe it!_

_Can I?_

_Yes!_

Fox disappeared at the same time.

At the instant, Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon had no clue where they were.

"What the fuck…" said Falcon. "Where did they… go?"

"I… have no clue…" Jigglypuff replied.

SLAAAAASH!!!!

Fox appeared. A huge white line struck through the room, slicing his body. This wound poured out the most blood out of all. Fox was knocked into the wall, almost unconscious. He had lost his staff; it was several feet away, cut into pieces. He was in his original form. He slid down the ground, blood smearing across the wall.

"I can't… seem to… beat him…" Fox groaned, barely opening his eyes. He closed them, his head leaning to the side.

"FOX!!!" Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff both ran to Fox's side. The wound was horrible. Fox's check was completely cut through and his chest was almost cut open. The wound reached all the way down to his stomach, reaching his thighs, and down to his knees.

"All right, where the hell is that Metaknight???" Captain Falcon cried out.

Metaknight appeared a few feet away, standing still. He had his sword to his side, his cloak slightly cut. He was facing away from the smashers.

"Metaknight! You are going to fucking… PAY!!!" Falcon cried, but before he was about to run…

"Pay? For what? Fox? He is still alive," said Metaknight, still not turning around.

"Wait, what?"

"His body is practically cut open! How can we believe you??" asked Jigglypuff.

"I wish… I could apologize… to Kirby… Give him my apologies for me… He'll understand…" said Metaknight.

"Wait, what?" both Falcon and Jigglypuff said, puzzled.

"Fox has much potential… And so do you two… Beware of the master… He is far more powerful…"

Metaknight turned around. He was no longer wearing his mask. He was now a blue Kirby-like creature with a cloak. The blade of his sword, no longer transformed, fell off of its hilt. There was a straight, silver vertical line down across his spherical body.

"Congratulations, Fox… You've finally caught up…" said Metaknight as he fell to the ground, all of his vitals sliced up.

Victor: Fox McCloud 


	91. Chapter 91: Luigi vs Shadoo

Hack: Final fights are over, and I'm glad you all enjoyed them, but what about for Luigi? What will happen to Captain Olimar and Samus? Seems like we left the others for quite a few chapters. You will see soon… Be prepared for quite possibly the longest chapter in this entire story yet because of how contemplative it will be to Luigi.

This is Luigi's big fight of the story. Yes. The ENTIRE story. No, the story isn't coming to an end, but this is Luigi's big solo fight of this story. Everything has been leading up to this. It may not have seemed like too much when he just faced Shadoo, but… You will see. Hopefully, you'll enjoy…

WARNING: Tons of cursing from Luigi.

* * *

**Chapter 91: Luigi vs Shadoo**

"How will you defeat me?" asked Shadoo. "In my current form, I am you. I have all of your abilities. I chose this form to show how pathetically easy it is to kill you, even without having your sword and shield."

"Easy to kill me? Speak for yourself," said Luigi. "You are going to pay for everything you've done to me… Controlling my mind…"

"But hey, it's my job," said Shadoo, shrugging. "You'd be way too weak without my powers."

"**I'll fucking make you eat those damn words!!!**" Luigi screamed.

Luigi held his palms open, forming the hybrid electric and fire sword in his right hand and the hybrid shield in his left. He charged at Shadoo, who was simply standing there, smirking.

SHING!

Shadoo jumped at the last millisecond up at the ceiling with a loud explosion, sending himself flying with the powers that Luigi's silver clothing gave. Luigi shot his sword forward, but Shadoo had jumped already.

"Green Missile!" Shadoo cried.

KABOOM!

Luigi wavedashed to the side to avoid a huge explosion from Shadoo's head. While embedded in the ground, Shadoo held out his right hand, pointed it at Luigi, and shot an invisible blast of energy, punching Luigi with an invisible force.

"Ugh!" The punch was much more powerful than that of Luigi's. A few teeth instantly flew out of Luigi's mouth, his nose was instantly cracked, and blood flowed out from his mouth, eyes, and nose. Luigi crashed into the cavern wall, instantly making it crumble. The rubble fell over him, but Luigi held his shield, preventing the boulders from falling on top of him.

SHING!

Immediately after jumping back on his feet, with all the force he could muster, Luigi threw his energy sword in the air like a javelin. Shadoo tilted his head to have the sword fly over his shoulder. He caught the hilt with quick reflexes, and then threw it back at Luigi with ten times the force. By the time Luigi was starting to run at Shadoo, Luigi felt the sword fly through his chest, burning and shocking his entire body inside.

"AAAGH!!!!"

Luigi knelt down, clutching his chest, still feeling his entire body smoking with heat and electricity.

"I am stronger, faster, and more accurate than you," said Shadoo. "You will never surpass me."

"Bullshit…" said Luigi.

Luigi wavedashed forward several feet, gaining instant acceleration as he began running at Shadoo. He was instantly in front of Shadoo, lightly short-hopping in the air and throwing a strong karate chop. Shadoo crouched underneath the karate chop, bringing his fist in an uppercut at Luigi's chin.

KABOOM!

Luigi smashed through the ceiling, blood splattering everywhere. His neck was almost cracked off. Boulders fell around Shadoo as Luigi landed on the wall, ignoring the fatal pain through his neck and head as he dropped himself, shooting down at Shadoo. Luigi fired fireball after fireball down, making the entire room around Shadoo rain fire.

Shadoo simply sidestepped every fireball accurately with precise speed. One fireball fell to his left, and he simply stepped to the right. In a millisecond, another fireball was falling above his head. He noticed a fireball about to hit behind him as well, so he stepped forward. His dodging abilities were so perfectly choreographed that Luigi couldn't even tell if he was moving at all!

"It's getting quite hot in here, don't you think?" said Shadoo, taking off his hat and fanning himself as he continued to dodge fireballs casually.

"You…" Luigi stuttered, still firing fireballs above. He held both of his hands back, charging electricity.

"_Bolting!!!_"

The entire room rained electricity, much faster than the fireballs rained down. There was so much lightning that a spectator would only see violet light! In fact, Luigi only saw white light as he was still in the air!

The room was intensely bright with violet light. Luigi landed on the ground, shielding his eyes. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw Shadoo sliding towards Luigi at a frightening speed!

_Is that him wavedashing?_

Luigi had no time to ponder, but the answer to his question was yes. Shadoo was waveashing twice as faster than Luigi could ever wavedash! Before Luigi could even ponder that question, he was forced to back-flip to dodge another fiery uppercut! Shadoo slid across the ground with his wavedashing so quickly that it seemed like he was teleporting!

"I have your ranged invisible powers of your silver clothing…" said Shadoo. "But it'd be too easy with that. Where's the fun in extreme easiness when I can beat you almost as easily without them?"

Shadoo jumped into the air, directly in front of Luigi. Luigi threw his hand forward in a karate chop in defense, but Shadoo held his leg out in a sex kick. Before, Shadoo was wavedashing forward at Luigi, so the momentum from sliding was causing him to move slightly forward in the air, about to tap Luigi in the stomach with his sex kick.

By the way, while Shadoo had his leg out, he leaned his head back to barely avoid the karate chop.

Luigi had his shield out with his left hand, protecting his stomach. Even so, when Shadoo's foot touched Luigi's shield, Luigi was blasted away, careening through cavern walls. Although Luigi didn't cough out blood or break any bones from the actual attack, he certainly broke a few bones from the impact between his back and the walls!

"Even from my weakest attacks, your body is broken and blasted away!" said Shadoo. "You are no damn match for me. You can't possibly beat me. I am more powerful than Mario, and you are inferior to him in every way possible."

_Inferior?_

Luigi stood on his feet again, an expression of hatred on his face.

"You talk too much, you know that?" said Luigi.

"Peh! Say as you like! Wherever you come at me, I will deal back at you tenfold!"

Luigi flipped out a red shell, as he did against Lord Crump back in Mushroom Kingdom. He kicked it at Shadoo, who simply stepped to the side to avoid it.

"A red shell? You're starting to get more creative, inferior!"

Luigi fired two ropes of fire ahead, attaching them to the walls and his wrists. He pulled himself back, and then released himself, shooting himself forward like a slingshot.

Shadoo laid a fist forward in front of Luigi's face, but at the last second, Luigi shot upwards! Apparently he attached a rope of electricity between himself and the ceiling! He created another fire slingshot pointed downwards at Shadoo and fired himself. While in the air, the red shell bounced off of a wall and rebounded upwards, appearing below Luigi's feet. With Luigi's insane velocity, he struck the shell, making it an even faster projectile, down at Shadoo.

Shadoo smirked. The shell was firing down at practically the speed of light.

BAM!

Shadoo held his hands out and literally caught the shell! The shell was spinning in his hands, normally cutting them, but because he was not made of flesh, it did not affect him one bit! He held the shell back, and then shot it forward as fast as Luigi was shooting down!

_I'm not letting you win this time, you fucking asshole!_

Just before the red shell struck Luigi, Luigi calculated the angles of the cavern walls and kicked the red shell away, at a cavern wall. Luigi flipped in the air and threw his foot down at Shadoo's face.

At the last second, Shadoo grabbed Luigi's foot again! And this time, he began to squish Luigi's foot with all his might.

CRACK!

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Almost all the bones in Luigi's foot was cracked and broken. Shadoo tossed Luigi to the side like a rag doll, except he threw Luigi so powerfully that Luigi's body crashed through yet _more_ walls!

KABOOM!

Yes, that was the explosion of Luigi's body striking the cavern walls. However, at the same time, the red shell had rebounded off the wall at double the speed and struck Shadoo's stomach at the same time!

"Ugh!" Shadoo grunted as he was sent crashing through walls again with the red shell. When the surprise wore off, he grabbed the red shell, stopping its destruction, and destroyed it with his grip. Shadoo stood up just as Luigi was shooting his fire and electric sword forward.

CLANG!

Shadoo had no choice but to draw his own hybrid sword, retaliating with Luigi's assault. He blocked Luigi's vertical slash and shot his leg forward, but Luigi stepped to the side, shooting his sword forward again. Shadoo blocked with the hybrid shield and shoved Luigi away, giving him breathing room. Luigi literally threw his shield at Shadoo's head, but Shadoo leaned back, letting the spinning shield pass over him. He flipped back to avoid a series of slashes. They both began to give each other all they had with their swords.

"What's the matter, you fuck-tard? I thought you said you didn't need any weapons to beat me!" said Luigi.

"Ha! Well I value my life over my ego, if that's fine with you," said Shadoo.

"Great! The more of your power you use… The more satisfaction I get from BEATING THE FUCKING CRAP OUT OF YOU!!!"

Luigi mixed all of the blood and saliva in his mouth then spat directly at Shadoo's eyes.

"ARGH!!!" Shadoo cried, his sword disappearing as he tried to wipe his eyes out. "MY EYES! I CAN'T SEE!!!"

Luigi looked up to see a fireball above forming from the mix flower.

_Yes… the mix flower I planted while raining fireballs down is working. Good thing Shadoo didn't notice them; the fireballs and bolting were just diversions._

Luigi took this opportunity to shoot as many fireballs as he can into the fireball. He stopped for a moment to let the gargantuan fireball fall while Shadoo was still blinded by Luigi's saliva and blood.

**KABOOM!**

The mix flower exploded on Shadoo's body as Luigi jumped backwards. Debris flew everywhere, a few cutting Luigi, but Luigi wanted to see his enemy die. Yes, he wanted to see the one he hates so much die.

When the black smoke cleared away, Shadoo was on the ground, but his body looked completely fine!

Shadoo staggered as he propped himself up. He stood on his feet again, smirking.

"What?" Luigi gasped in horror.

"Surprised? I'm just that much stronger than you," said Shadoo.

"But… but…"

"I'm invincible. You can't beat me if your life depended on it. Wait, your life does depend on it, so I guess you can't beat me at all! Gwah ha ha!!!" Shadoo laughed.

"There has to be a way…"

"Too bad, there isn't."

"Fuck your god damn theories, you ass," Luigi gritted through his teeth.

Luigi fired several bolts of electricity at Shadoo. Shadoo flipped himself in the air, turned his body and pointed it at Luigi, then spun, using the angular momentum from the spin to move himself in the air. He dodged every bolt of electricity flying past him.

Luigi expected this, so while Shadoo was dodging, Luigi was directly above Shadoo.

Shadoo was still in the air when Luigi spun in the air himself.

"_Tornado Jump!_" He cried, creating a tornado in the entire room, particularly above and below him. The tornado didn't reach the ground, so it was an anti-aerial ability.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!

Shadoo was struck multiple times by the air blades of the tornado. Luigi was higher up in the air as he created another fire slingshot, shooting himself down at Shadoo and leaving a foot out, ready to kick Shadoo.

"Again? Isn't your foot too damaged?" asked Shadoo as he grabbed Luigi's foot and proceeded to crush it. However, it wasn't made of flesh…

"What?" But it was too late. Before Shadoo realized that Luigi's foot was made of metal, Luigi swung his other foot, ignoring the blinding pain, and kicked Shadoo in the face. Shadoo skidded across the ground as Luigi pursued him with a few wavedashes.

Shadoo instantly jumped back and shot himself forward, pointing his feet at Luigi. He kicked Luigi in the stomach, knocking him into the cavern wall and breaking it. Shadoo appeared in front of Luigi with an insanely fast wavedash and slammed a powerful punch into Luigi's stomach, blowing all of the wind out of him.

KABOOOOOOOM!!!

Luigi was leaning against a wall, his face smeared with blood. His shirt had dry blood on it from dripping blood from his mouth. His hat was gone.

"Look at you… You're useless…" said Shadoo. "As I said, you're inferior to Mario in every way."

"Mario… I'm just as equal as him…" said Luigi.

"Ahem… But he is so much more selfish than you. You deserve more than that load of shit he gave you, right?" said Shadoo.

"Maybe…" said Luigi.

"Look at that incident Peach told you, god damn it! You have no reason to destroy everything! What do you exist for now? Nothing, you filthy bitch!"

"What do I exist for? I have friends…"

"You're too damn weak, you idiot!" said Shadoo, kicking Luigi. "You're weaker than even Mario! And Mario is way too weak! You're all fucking weak!"

_Fucking weak, am I?_

_Is Mario that weak too?_

_But… I'm stronger than him._

_How so? He defeated Shadoo…_

_No. He stole my fame. Fuck him._

_Who cares? He's your bro…_

_What if he's my brother?!_

_He loves you…_

_And I did until this happened! Fuck him!_

"I know what's going on!" said Shadoo. "You hate Mario! He doesn't care about you! You have nothing to live for! So just live for destruction! Nobody cares about you!"

* * *

"_Wonder how Mario's doing… He probably just left off on an adventure of his own," said Luigi. "Ever since Peach's castle was kidnapped by Bowser's… He was up there, wasn't he?"_

_Luigi sat up straight as he saw his brother come out of the pipe._

"_Bro! What's going on? You're safe! And… who's this?"_

"_Oh, him? Just Goombario, a little guy tagging along," said Mario._

"_I'm not a little guy!" said Goombario, a goomba with a blue hat._

"_Come on, we're both twice as taller than you," said Mario._

"_Heh… So you're off on another adventure, huh?" asked Luigi._

"_Apparently…"_

"_Somebody has to guard the house, so… I guess I'm housekeeping again."_

"…" _Mario said nothing._

"_Go ahead, just have your fame again."_

"_All right, Luigi, have it your way," said Mario. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to come along, but…"_

_Luigi's eyes widened. Before he knew what happened, Mario went through the pipe with Goombario._

* * *

_Fame, glory, power, Mario has everything… He has all the power…_

_I'm not going to fall for Shadoo's tricks. I'm not going to bring Mario in this conflict!_

"You're getting up again, eh?" asked Shadoo.

"I'm not giving up…" said Luigi. "I won't stop until one of us dies…"

"One flaw with that word, idiot… You're the only one that's going to die."

BOOM!

Shadoo shot his fist forward, releasing a ranged, invisible punch at Luigi. Luigi rolled underneath where the punch was aimed, wavedashing while crouching towards Shadoo.

Luigi swung his legs around, forcing Shadoo to jump over Luigi's break dancing attack. Luigi halted his attack and jumped in the air, following Shadoo. He was underneath Shadoo when he used a round flip kick above him, about to hit Shadoo. Shadoo blocked by pointing his arm down. He flipped in the air and pointed his feet down at Luigi, about to release a drill kick on Luigi's head.

Luigi held out both his hands and let lose a stream of fire and a beam of electricity upwards.

"Did you forget?" said Shadoo as he held his hands out. Luigi couldn't make out the colors, but he absorbed both of Luigi's attacks! He was using his own version of Luigi's gloves! "I thank you for the extra fire and electricity!"

KABOOM!

Luigi was toasted in an instant as he felt a combination of both his own and Shadoo's firepower and voltage. He fell to the ground with a loud thud on his back, twitching.

"I have all of your weapons, little punk…" said Shadoo. "I have everything that you have, except even more powerful!"

"When the hell will you shut the hell up…" said Luigi. "…about you being more powerful than me???"

Luigi leapt in the air, pointing his feet at Shadoo. He struck Shadoo in the stomach while in the air, pushing Shadoo a few feet away. Luigi flipped his body and took out his golden, repaired hammer, about to smash Shadoo in the head.

Shadoo blocked the hammer smash by catching the hammer's head with his right hand! Luigi's eyes widened in shock as Shadoo crushed the head into pieces with his bare hands, gold pieces flying everywhere.

BAM!

Shadoo used a drill kick on Luigi, shooting him at the ground. Before letting Luigi cover, Shadoo landed beside Luigi and kicked his body into the air. He pursued Luigi's body with a light-speed wavedash and used a light flip kick to push Luigi's body away, followed by a powerful, finishing karate chop attack.

KABOOM!

For the millionth time, Luigi crashed through the cavern walls and landed in another cavern. Shadoo practically teleported into the room, standing over Luigi.

Luigi rolled out of the way, barely avoiding an explosive stomp from Shadoo.

_You think you've won this fight? I have more things up my sleeves that I've prepared…_

Luigi continued to jump backwards repeatedly, avoiding powerful, invisible ranged punches and kicks.

"I have something you don't have…" said Luigi.

"What?" Shadoo looked surprised for once.

KABOOM!

There was an explosion right where Luigi was. Shadoo looked around him frantically; he could not sense Luigi at all on the floor. There was a crater at where Luigi was.

"What? You don't have your silver weapons! I took those powers! How can you possible rocket yourself?"

"Exactly… Rocket Nozzle…"

Shadoo looked up to see Luigi with a water tank on his back with a yellow hose on top of it. The hose was pointed down, meaning it had let loose an insanely powerful and precisely focused blast of water to fire Luigi up into the air.

"Say hello to FLUDD and…" Luigi took out his vacuum. "…The Poltergeist."

"Pah! Toys!"

The FLUDD's nozzle suddenly switched into a T shape with a hose opening on each end.

PSHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Shadoo had no clue what the FLUDD did. Luigi, who took the FLUDD from Mario's belongings before leaving Mushroom Kingdom, let loose two thin streams of water downward, catching Shadoo by surprise. Shadoo was struck by both instantly. At the same time, the two streams of water allowed Luigi to hover in the air.

Luigi had another trick up his sleeve. He pointed his poltergeist down, directly below the FLUDD and right where the streams of water were fired, and let loose a mist of ice. The streams of water froze, turning into icicles and firing down at Shadoo.

By the time Shadoo had any clue what was going on, a line of sharp icicles stabbed him all over his body, releasing black particles everywhere.

"ARGH!!!" Shadoo cried as he wavedashed away, plucking the icicles out of his body.

Luigi pointed the FLUDD more forward towards Shadoo, chasing Shadoo with his stream of icicles. Shadoo counterattacked with a stream of fire, melting all of the ice, but Luigi used another rocket blast to shoot himself over the fire attack.

"Time for some improvisation…" said Luigi. He turned the FLUDD into the spray nozzle, turning it into a simple water hose, and sprayed water all over the cavern floor. The room was slightly flooded by about a centimeter. Shadoo crouched low on his knees, then kicked at the ground, shooting himself up at Luigi.

Luigi spun vertically once while shooting FLUDD, creating a curving stream of water towards the ground. He halted the FLUDD as he froze the water directly in front of him. He jumped on the ice and began to slide down, continuously freezing the water in front of him and essentially creating an ice slide while sliding down.

Shadoo was right at the beginning of the ice slide right when Luigi began his descent. Luigi was firing his Poltergeist all around the cavern floor, turning the floor into ice. Shadoo landed on the ice slide and began to slide down, but Luigi fired a fireball at the center, causing Shadoo to slip off and almost hit the cavern wall.

Shadoo flipped himself in midair and landed on the wall. He blasted himself towards Luigi, who was finished with freezing the floor.

Luigi spun once in place and instantly disappeared!

"…Huh?" Shadoo crashed into the ice floor, cracking it and missing Luigi.

Luigi was at the other side of the room, leaving behind a trail of blood from all of his injuries. What's more strange… He was ice skating!

"What are you trying to do? Figure skate me to death?" asked Shadoo.

"I'm more skilled than Mario at ice skating…" said Luigi. "You'll see how!"

"The ice gives me less traction, making my wavedashes even faster than before!"

"We'll see who out-speeds the other then!" said Luigi, smirking.

Shadoo appeared in front of Luigi with a swift wavedash, but Luigi disappeared again! Shadoo whirled around to see Luigi circling him at insane speeds, sliding along the ice with his heels!

Shadoo predicted where Luigi will skate to in the next moment and wavedashed in that direction, but he over sped! Luigi jumped over Shadoo, who zoomed himself across the room with one wavedash! At the same time, Luigi kicked Shadoo over five times instantly while jumping over Shadoo! Shadoo was lying on the ground, spinning on the ice in the middle of his wavedash, grunting.

Luigi appeared in front of Shadoo and began to circle him again! Shadoo whirled around but slipped on the ice, landing on his butt. While circling Shadoo, Luigi fired electric bolts at Shadoo from every direction possible, shocking him on the spot.

"ARGH!!!"

Shadoo was steaming now, black smoke coming from his body.

"You… I'll melt this place down!!!"

Shadoo held his arms out and began to let loose streams of fire everywhere, but Luigi took this chance and jumped above him.

KABOOM!

A simple ground pound was all Luigi did. Shadoo was crushed underneath Luigi's bottom. Luigi spun around while sitting on Shadoo, making Shadoo's bare face and arms slide against the ice while being pushed against it. Shadoo's black skin was smeared off instantly and black blood laid on the icy floor.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

Luigi flipped off of Shadoo, shooting mists of ice down at Shadoo. While Shadoo was recovering, he looked up to see his hands frozen! In a second, before he could do anything, he was frozen on the spot. Luigi landed next to the frozen body of Shadoo, wiping the sweat and blood on his forehead away.

"You asshole…" Luigi muttered. "Finally… It was fun… Beating the shit out of you… But I'm not letting you live…" He lifted his foot above Shadoo's head and slammed it down, shattering Shadoo's entire body. Black particles flew everywhere.

Luigi sighed as he turned around. "…I might as well… get back to the surface…"

KABOOM!

Luigi was slammed in the back with an invisible fist, blasting him through several cavern walls. Shadoo was standing there, no longer shattered nor frozen.

"You thought I died from that…" said Shadoo. "But did you know? I can't be killed. Period."

Luigi was leaning against the wall, groaning. "But… how… the fuck…"

"Didn't I tell you before? _I can't be fucking killed, you idiot!!!_" Shadoo yelled, standing directly over Luigi now. "I admit, that ice skating crap was interesting, but I melted the floor after blasting you… That blast on your back shattered your stupid water tank, rendering it useless. That was quite interesting, a memento of your brother?"

"Why not…" said Luigi.

"An insult… Your brother should not be respected. Granted, he was able to defeat my partial power, but he is not fucking worthy of beating my full power. He is no match for me. He is a weakling. And if he's a weakling, what does that make you?"

Shadoo held Luigi up against the wall by the neck.

"That makes you… A defenseless Toad! Yes! You're a toad! Not worthy of anything at all! Just die, damn it!"

Shadoo slammed Luigi's neck against the wall. Luigi's body slid down the wall, smearing blood all over the wall. Luigi was barely conscious now, his neck almost snapped by Shadoo's hands.

* * *

"_Come on! Why so down today, Luigi?" asked Mario._

"_I don't know… I'm just not in the mood today to pay Peach a visit…" said Luigi, sitting on the steps of the front porch._

"_There's cake."_

"_Not hungry."_

"_I'll set you up for a date with Peach."_

"_Not interested."_

"_I'll bring Bowser over."_

"_Hell no."_

"_Ha ha… I was joking on that one. Well I'm going to go now… At least just come over and say hi. Peach would be really glad that you came to her birthday party."_

_Luigi shrugged. "Everyone's only going to care about you anyways…"_

"_Eh…" Mario sat down next to Luigi. "Tell you what. We'll just spend the day together jumping around like the good old days."_

_Luigi jumped on his feet. "WHAT? I thought it's an annual party… Peach is turning thirty, and it's… a big year! These parties aren't annual… They don't come along every day."_

"_She'll understand. Plus there won't be anyone to bother us," said Mario. "At least until Bowser makes his millionth attempt to kidnap Peach, but I can arrange for that. I think even Yoshi can take him on easily."_

_Luigi laughed. "Ha… But why?"_

"_Hm… Because you're my younger brother, and older brothers have to take care of their younger siblings?"_

"…_I guess that's a valid reason…" said Luigi._

* * *

"_Ugh… Luigi… you okay…?" Mario asked, clutching his bleeding chest._

_Luigi rolled over on his back, groaning._

_They were both in a stomach. They were just blown up by a trap and eaten by Bowser, who was possessed by Cackletta._

"…_I'm still alive?" Luigi said._

_Mario rolled his eyes. "Obviously. We need to get out of here and finish Bowletta off. How about…"_

"_Mario! Look over there!"_

_Mario looked at where Luigi was pointing and saw a white ghost with the head of Cackletta. She had a simple round body with a red spot on it and two long arms._

"_You're pretty persistent pests, aren't you? I'll finish you off and digest you!" said Cackletta._

"_Bring it on!" said Mario._

_FOOM!_

_Cackletta fired fire and electricity at the brothers. Mario deflected the electric attack with fireballs. Luigi deflected the fire attack with his own electric shocks._

"_LUIGI!!! WATCH OUT!!!"_

"_Huh?"_

_BOOM!_

_Cackletta's arm shot out, aimed for Luigi. However, Mario instantly dashed at Luigi, knocking him out of the way and taking the hit for himself. Mario was sent flying several feet as Luigi watched his brother take the hit for him._

"_MARIO!!!"_

* * *

"…_So since I was the only one at the house again, I naturally had to answer this plea from the Waffle Kingdom!" said Luigi._

"_Ha… Waffle Kingdom? Never heard of it," said Mario, eyeing a few suspicious bandits hiding behind a few bushes._

"_Yeah! So I left for the Waffle Kingdom and met with… Uh… I met Minister Cape! He told me that the Chestnut King kidnapped the Princess Éclair and vanished without a trace!"_

"_Hm… And where are you making all these names up, Luigi?" asked Mario, smirking._

"_These aren't names I'm making up! This is a true story!" Luigi cried._

"_Ha… I sometimes wished I never left you behind. Your fake stories are so interesting all the time."_

"_Gr… They're not fake at all, dang it!"_

_Mario laughed out loud, punching a sneaking bandit behind him without turning around. "Yeah, whatever you say. It can get a little lonely though… I mean, I have quite a few people to keep me company like Goombella and Koops, but… Sometimes it's a little lonely while searching for the Crystal Stars and stopping Grodus."_

"_At least I'm out of the house for once!" said Luigi._

"_Well… Did you get someone to take care of the house?"_

_Luigi was silent. "Um… About that…"_

"_Dude! Get back to the Mushroom Kingdom at once, Luigi! Nah, just kidding. We'll just come back after this is all done and kick their butts…"_

"_Whose?"_

"_Anyone who breaks in!"_

"_Oh… Duh!"_

"_Anyways… I need a break. Tell me what happened after you met with Master Cape!" said Mario, sitting on the pile of bandits that he unconsciously beat up._

* * *

Luigi staggered. He gripped the wall, trying to get back on his feet, gritting his teeth. His ripped gloves scratched upon the rough cavern walls. Luigi's feet were painfully sliding towards the wall, holding up Luigi's beaten body. Luigi leaned his head against the wall, blood spilling down. He coughed painfully, spitting out saliva and blood. He slid back down the wall, unable to hold himself up any longer, sighing. His vision was blurred. He could barely make out the fuzzy image of Shadoo walking away from Luigi.

_I… can't… stand… Damn it…_

_I'm not… going to let him… live…_

_Damn… copy…_

Luigi blinked several times, blinking out the blood from his eyes. He began to slide up against the wall again, determined to kill this monstrosity, even if it got him killed…

* * *

"_No matter what, you've got to hold on to what you love…"_

"_If you take a step back, you will lose sight of your true goal. It will become impossible to succeed. Always, ALWAYS keep moving forward!"_

"_You can't be a coward anymore, Luigi… sometimes you must stand up for yourself… I won't always be there to protect you. The day will come when I'm going to disappear from your life and everyone else's life…"_

"_Everyone can use a little love. You can never have too much of it. Love will fuel your determination… Fight for what you love. Protect who you love."_

"_The day will come when one will sacrifice his life for all that he loves… Always be prepared, Luigi…"_

"_You need to be more confident, damn it! Luigi! I know I keep saying this, but I won't be around to stand up for you all the time any longer! You have to look after yourself… This is why I'm your big brother. I do this because I'm your bigger brother and I have to take care of you!"_

"_I'm your brother, Luigi…"_

"_Live strong, Luigi…"_

"_Never turn back, Luigi…"_

"_I love you, Luigi…"_

* * *

Luigi was back on his feet, staggering. He was finally able to support his body. He glared in the direction of Shadoo, who stopped in his tracks, noticing Luigi's sudden boost in energy. Shadoo whirled around, facing Luigi.

"What? Why are you standing?" asked Shadoo.

"…Because… I can…" said Luigi. "Because… I can beat you… And I will…"

"No, you can't, you idiot. You're too weak."

"Even so… There's one thing that I can never forgive you for…"

"What? Insulting your poor big brother who's dead? He took all your fame! Your money! He took everything that you could've had!"

"That incident… with Kamek… Is insignificant… I lost control in temper, but…

I forgive him…

I lost sight of all that… he's done for me… He loves me over everyone else… He took care of me… He protected me… He taught me… He's my older brother… He sacrificed himself…"

Luigi lifted his head up, his eyes red with anger.

"**AND I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO SPIT YOUR FUCKING SHIT ON HIS NAME!!!!!**" Luigi screamed.

KABOOM!

Luigi shot his fist at Shadoo. Without his silver gloves. Shadoo felt an invisible punch as powerful as his own strike his face, blasting him through several cavern walls.

With all the strength he can muster, fueled with his determination, Luigi stood up straight and shot himself directly at where Shadoo was flying.

"GREEN MISSILE!!!"

KABOOM!

Shadoo took another direct blow in the stomach, coughing out black blood. He was sent careening through several more cavern walls as Luigi continued to pursue him.

By now, Shadoo finally caught on with what was going on and jumped over the flying Luigi.

"What? You don't have your weapons! How can you use those abilities, damn it?" He yelled.

"My brother's blood runs through my veins…" said Luigi, coughing more blood. "And so does the power of the star rod that he passed down… He loves me over everyone else… He could've given that power to Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, or even Bowser. But this… He trusted me above all else, and he knows that I will not back down after all he has taught me. He knew me best, and I will not let him down.

This is proof that Mario loves me! Because of all he's done for me… I love my big brother! He is the best person that anyone could ever know!

And about these powers… Those silver clothes… they just… let me realize… these powers that I didn't know about…"

"You… I am going to fucking kill you right now!" yelled Shadoo. "I don't give a damn about your stupid brother! He's a fool for killing himself to destroy Grodus! He's a weakling!"

"**Don't… Call… Him… a WEAKLING, YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!**" Luigi screamed.

KABOOM!!!

Shadoo felt two punches on his face simultaneously, one burning and one shocking his face. Shadoo flipped in the air and landed on the wall, kicking off of it to attack Luigi. Luigi was prepared as well.

"GREEN MISSILE!!!" Both Luigi and Shadoo cried.

**KABOOM!!!**

There was a huge explosion between both of them. The entire room was filled with smoke, but Luigi wavedashed into it riskily.

"Ha! I found you!" cried Luigi.

Shadoo swung his hand at Luigi several feet away, hitting Luigi with a ranged karate chop. Luigi recovered, standing back up straight.

BOOM!

Luigi was up at the ceiling of the room now. He pointed his feet down at Shadoo and spun faster than a tornado. He was falling down towards Shadoo, who was now taking several blows from a ranged drill kick from Luigi.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!

"Luigi Cyclone!"

Luigi landed on top of Shadoo, drilling into Shadoo's stomach and splattering blood everywhere. Luigi jumped off, immediately crouching below Shadoo, who was jumping up.

"Big mistake…"

FOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

"SHORYU KEN!!!"

Luigi shot up in the air with his fist raised, using his powerful super jump punch right underneath Shadoo. Shadoo's body was set on fire and sent plowing through the ceilings and out of the caverns. Luigi landed on the ground, then fired himself through the holes, coming out of the caverns.

Big mistake.

The moment Luigi popped out of the ground and into fresh air, Shadoo was waiting for Luigi directly above him and drill kicked Luigi into the ground.

"Ugh!"

Luigi rolled backwards, away from Shadoo, but Shadoo appeared in front of Luigi with a swift wavedash. Shadoo drew his own black hammer and was about to pound it down on Luigi's head.

BAM!

Shadoo looked at his hammer, except it had no head! Luigi had blasted it away with a ranged punch. Before Shadoo was able to act, Luigi lifted his legs back and shot at Shadoo, kicking him in the stomach. Luigi was on top of Shadoo, flipping in midair, and drew his spare golden hammer. He smashed it on Shadoo's head, causing it to splatter everywhere.

"How does that feel? Huh?" cried Luigi.

"Not bad…" said Shadoo as his head began to reform with black particles. "But… you can't kill me…"

"Do you think I care?"

Those words struck Shadoo like daggers down his throat. "Wh… What do you mean?"

"I don't give a damn. For insulting my brother… I'm going to inflict as much pain as I can on you until I die. Nobody has the right to spit on my brother's name…"

"…If you want to die so soon… All right…" said Shadoo, shrugging as his head finally completely reformed. "We'll see how soon you die them…"

"However, that is only if I can't find a way to kill you…"

Shadoo began to wavedash around Luigi. Luigi whirled around to see Shadoo circling him, just as he ice skated around Shadoo at frightening speeds as well!

Luigi held his arms out…

"Luigi Cyclone!"

The ranged cyclone attack spun, hitting practically everything that was standing on the ground. Shadoo wavedashed away, crouching underneath the deadly blow. The trees everywhere were knocked off. All of the bushes were plowed away. The adult bulbear who just so happened to be nearby was instantly killed, its eye blown off of its body.

_If I have the power of the stars… This is all? I seem to have overestimated it…_

_But… You probably missed something…_

_Missed something?_

_There is probably something else that you haven't unlocked in your body… If Mario seriously put that much responsibility on your shoulders with the power of the stars of Mushroom Kingdom… There must be more._

_You're right… Relax…_

Luigi relaxed his body. Shadoo was back on his feet, about to attack. Luigi's body began to glow…

_This is an attack that I can use only once in my lifetime… I know. It's an inner power from the stars… It's a one-time-attack… And I know exactly who to use it for…_

SHING!

Luigi's body was no longer green. His entire body and clothes were colorful. Very colorful. Every particle of his body was a part of the rainbow.

"I am now… Rainbow Luigi…" said Luigi. "This is the true power of the starman… Not just the generic starmen that Mario and I found on our platforming journeys… This is the full power of the stars passed down from Mario to me… I will protect his name. I will not back off. I will use this to destroy what blocks my path… Shadoo! And with these powers… I will protect all of my friends… I will protect my smashers… Fox, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Samus… I will protect Peach and Yoshi… Bowser and Donkey Kong… I will protect all civilians… And I will defeat the Ring of Darkness!

You, Shadoo, are the one obstacle from allowing me to unlock this power and protect all that I love!" cried Luigi.

"Rainbow Luigi, eh? This seems more interesting…" said Shadoo. "…Huh?"

Luigi disappeared. He appeared directly next to Shadoo, now wearing a rainbow cape.

"If you wanted to form me… You'd know about my cape powers, wouldn't you?" asked Luigi.

FWIP!

Luigi swung his cape, spinning Shadoo in the other direction. Shadoo was about to release a punch at Luigi before being flipped, so he released a ranged punch away from Luigi!

"…Huh?"

BAM!

Luigi knocked Shadoo in the air with a flip kick. Shadoo regained his posture in the air, just to see Luigi flying right next to him.

"TAKE THIS!"

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!

Luigi karate chopped Shadoo in the neck, sending him flying away. Luigi appeared right where Shadoo was flying to and kicked him up in the air again. Luigi flew up instantly and swung his leg down with all his might. He used the heel of his metal foot on Shadoo's forehead, blowing Shadoo all the way down to the ground. Shadoo was blasted through the forest ground and into the caverns again.

"UGHH!!!" Shadoo cried. He was on one of the bottom cavern floors now and he stood back up.

BAM!

Shadoo was knocked back onto the ground by an invisible kick miles above. Luigi was still above the surface, his face filled with anger.

Shadoo rolled to the side to avoid another kick. Luigi appeared right in front of him instantly.

"Green Missile!"

BOOM!

Shadoo was blasted away at the speed of sound, but before he even hit a wall, Luigi was right below Shadoo.

"Super Jump Punch!"

KABOOM!

Shadoo plowed through the ceilings once more. Luigi took aim and fired a beam of fire combined with light from the stars.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Shadoo cried, his body being torn apart by light.

Luigi appeared next to Shadoo again, the effects of the starman wearing out already. _No, not now! I need to finish him! Now!_

"You are not invincible! You can be killed by light!" said Luigi.

"Huh? No! You can't kill me!" cried Shadoo.

Luigi blasted Shadoo away with a punch and kept him in place with a quick stream of fire and electricity. Luigi created several electric balls and fired them around Shadoo, creating a cage of electricity continuously shocking Shadoo.

"Ha… that… won't… kill… me…" Shadoo muttered as he was constantly shocked.

Luigi drew his hands back. "Face the powers of the star spirits!" cried Luigi, charging his hands. "Feel the power of… **STAR BEAM!!!**"

KABOOM!!!

Shadoo screamed. Luigi released a huge beam of light at where Shadoo was trapped. His body was separated into several black particles, which were soon destroyed by the light beam. Shadoo's scream faded away as Luigi transformed back to his original self. He floated back to the ground with his cape. Luigi landed on the ground softly, lying on his back and panting heavily. He was still wounded heavily from Shadoo's attacks.

He smiled. His thoughts went back to Mario. He closed his eyes.

_Mario… I'm sorry for cursing at you at the graveyard… I'm really sorry… I feel like a hypocrite… I was just so… angry… I was being selfish..._

_Don't be sorry._

_What?_

_I forgive you…_

_No, I don't deserve forgiveness… I was being an asshole… But all this time… Is that… you, brother?_

…_I exist in your mind only, Luigi… But remember, even if I died… I live in your spirit forever. Never forget that. I'm the one who doesn't deserve forgiveness…_

_But I forgive you… Brother, I'm sorry… I never told you how much I love you for all you've done… It's too late…_

_I always wanted to die a hero. It's fine. I endow the power of the stars upon you… I passed it down because I trust you the most…_

_Yeah… I figured… I knew you that well…_

…_I'm glad you grew up to not be the coward you once were… You used to hate fighting…_

_Now… It's sometimes necessary… I do it to protect everyone._

…_Luigi…_

…_Mario… Thank you…_

Victor: Luigi


	92. Chapter 92: The Bomb

Hack: Merry Christmas to all of you folks out there, and enjoy this concluding chapter. It saddens me to see that this story will be coming to an end somewhat soon… Enjoy.

**Chapter 92: The Bomb**

* * *

"Excuse me? What did you say?"

"I… I am not lying, master… We just received news a few seconds ago… You may look at the remains right now…"

"…I see… Metaknight, my second-in-command… I am disappointed in you… Nonetheless I never trusted you to begin with… You were too friendly with our captives, particularly that puffball."

"…"

"You are dismissed."

"By your leave." FOOM!

"Alex!"

SPLISH!

"Yes, my master?"

"You are the sole survivor of the Ring of Darkness. Even Metaknight has failed me."

"What? Metaknight has been defeated by Fox?"

"Yes! They are growing too powerful! Your precious Golden Sun better be powerful enough to take them all on!"

"Do not worry, master. My plan will not fail. Even if all five of the smashers came at me with the Golden Sun… They stand no chance."

"Do not disappoint me."

"Then by your leave…"

"Wait! Is the secret project complete?"

"That secret project? Oh yes… Fourteen out of fifteen are completed, yet obtaining the DNA of Deathborn is rather difficult…"

"Excellent. As a backup plan… If the smashers were to arrive here, they will be pressed to fight these weapons…"

"Excuse me?"

"I pray that we will not have to resort to this. These are also weapons to inflict destruction and control, so mind you, these weapons are not for the sole purpose of fighting the smashers if they defeat you."

"…Do not worry about that, master… I will crush those smashers… Especially Luigi…"

Alex then teleported out of the darkness with his water psyenergy. The master smirked to himself.

"Excellent… very well done, Alex… For now, I must tend to my weapons…"

He whirled around to see a Wire Frame panting in exhaustion. "You! What news do you bring me?"

"My apologies… Medusa is going out of control…" said the Wired Frame, shaking in his boots. "He has killed half of our workers already… We need your control…"

"Bah! Useless being!"

KZAP!

The Wired Frame was instantly killed on the spot.

"I'll tend to it. If Dark Medusa does not work, I have no choice but to exterminate it… But he is such a precious weapon. The others are working just fine, as Alex planned."

* * *

Three seconds. Three seconds was all it took for Samus to destroy the Titan Dweevil.

"Ha… ha…" Samus gasped as she looked at the pile of weapons squishing the dead spider. "…I overdid it… Ren Kiu… But… Where's Olimar…? I need to find him…"

ZOOM!

Samus disappeared in an instant, despite her fatigue.

* * *

The machine was humungous. It dwarfed Olimar, who could barely see the controls because he stood underneath them. He grabbed a large rock and attempted to heave it, but a few purple pikmin nodded their heads and picked up the rock for him, dropping it near the bomb. Olimar hopped on top of the rock, nodded his thanks to his pikmin.

"This is the bomb… If this goes off… The entire island is gone…" said Olimar. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

His army of a hundred pikmin looked at him curiously.

"I don't need you guys any longer… I don't want your lives in danger."

The pikmin looked at each other, humming silently. They all closed in around the rock that Olimar stood on top of.

"…You want to stay with me then? …I don't see how you trust me so much, but… I will try my best."

He fumbled with the enormous control panel on the bomb. "How does this work?"

BEEP! BEEP!

The entire cavern room flashed red.

"No! This cannot happen! My button inputs were perfect!"

"INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. LACK OF DARKNESS IDENTIFICATION. COMMENCING BOMB."

"…Commencing bomb? No!"

Samus appeared at the door, looking through the window. "Olimar! What's going on?"

"The bomb is activated! I cannot disable it!"

Samus banged on the steel door. She fired a few missiles at it, but it would not budge. She tried to blow up the cavern walls, but they were not damaged at all!

"Damn it… These are protected… I can't blast my way through…" she muttered. "Find a way to deactivate the bomb!"

"THIRTY SECONDS TO DETONATION"

Sweat rolled down Olimar's neck as he desperately looked around the controls again. "Please! Please!"

"Hurry up, Olimar!" Samus cried. "You're our only hope!"

"…Huh? What is this?" He looked up at the huge screen to see a measurement… The bomb's radius. "Excellent! I need a password to adjust the bomb's range…"

"What?" Samus heard him through the door. "But turn it off! We don't want you to die!"

"There is no way to deactivate it… This is the least I can do right now so the entire planet is not destroyed," said Olimar. "I need a passcode… No…"

"…The Endowment of Exigency…" said Samus, her suit glowing more. "I just know it… Try… Nintendo…"

Olimar looked at the huge keyboard before him.

"TWENTY SECONDS TO DETONATION"

"I cannot move around quickly enough to put in the password… Pikmin!"

The pikmin climbed up the rock before him. Olimar grabbed a red pikmin behind him and took aim several feet away. He fired it at the N of the keyboard, immediately grabbing another pikmin.

A star appeared in the password input, signaling the N was correctly put in.

Olimar threw another pikmin, this time at the I. He pointed at the first pikmin he threw and gestured his finger up. The red pikmin hummed as it jumped, activating the N just as the second pikmin hit the I.

Olimar continued to put in the passcode Nintendo.

"PASSWORD ACCEPTED. TEN SECONDS TO DETONATION"

* * *

"Where the hell is Samus and Luigi?" asked Captain Falcon. Jigglypuff had teleported him, herself, and Fox, who was carried by Falcon, beside Samus's ship.

"Hold on… Be sure Fox gets the rest he needs," said Jigglypuff. The ground began to shake. "Is the bomb beginning to activate? No way!"

"Huh?"

"Falcon! Turn on Samus's ship right now! Get Fox in there too! I need to fetch the others!" said Jigglypuff. "_Teleport!_"

The ground began to shake more violently. Captain Falcon sped on top of the opening to Samus's ship.

"Adam!"

"Password valid."

The door opened as Captain Falcon dove in, carrying the unconscious Fox on his back.

* * *

"Luigi!" Jigglypuff cried. "Where were you? You're not in the cavern!"

Luigi opened his eyes. "The sky… It's turned red…" he muttered. "…What's… happening?"

"We need to get Samus and Olimar! The planet's going to explode!" cried Jigglypuff.

Luigi sat up straight, despite the pain ringing through his back. Jigglypuff ignored his groans and the blood all over his body.

"…Get them. Now."

Jigglypuff grabbed Luigi's hand. "…_Teleport!_"

ZOOM!

Jigglypuff and Luigi appeared in the control room, right next to the bomb. Olimar was on top of the rock, frantically looking up at the screen and thinking.

"Olimar!" Luigi cried.

"Quiet! We have…"

"FIVE SECONDS TO DETONATION."

"What? Deactivate it, Olimar!" cried Jigglypuff.

"He can't…" said Samus, who was still outside the door. "He's trying to bring the radius of the blast down so it'll only destroy this cavern. He can't escape. Neither can the pikmin."

"…Olimar! You can't get yourself killed!" cried Luigi.

"Samus! Get back to your ship! Now!" cried Jigglypuff. "I have enough energy for one more teleport… You can get back with Ren Kiu, right?"

"Yeah! I'll make it in a few seconds!" said Samus, still panting. "_Ren Kiu! Hyper Mode!_"

ZOOM! Samus disappeared in an instant.

"No! The minimal radius is one mile!" cried Olimar. "It'll destroy the Wistful Wild!"

"You can't do anything about it!" cried Luigi. "We have to get you out of here!"

The pikmin jumped on the bomb, piling themselves on it.

"…What are they doing?" asked Jigglypuff, holding Luigi and Olimar's hand.

"You need to get them out too!" cried Olimar. "Please!"

"TWO…"

"…No… They're covering the bomb so it's blast radius is diminished…" said Luigi. "Ingenious… They're sacrificing themselves to save the Wistful Wild… And the entire planet…"

"No!!!" Olimar cried.

"ONE…"

"Sorry…_Teleport!_" Jigglypuff cried. She, Luigi, and Olimar disappeared in an instant.

KABOOM!

* * *

They were in Samus's ship. Fox was in a bed, still unconscious from his wounds with Metaknight. Jigglypuff panted from using Teleport so much, and her wounds from Black Knight got the best of her; she too fainted.

"Samus!" Falcon cried. "Luigi! Olimar!"

"Hey… The bomb…" said Luigi, looking through the window. The rumbling stopped. There was no sign of explosions.

"…The pikmin succeeded…" said Olimar, shedding a tear.

"…Yeah… I guess their sacrifice… was noble… like Mario's…" said Luigi. "To save a planet…"

"…I… I can't believe… all of them…"

Nobody made any more comments except for Samus.

"At least… you're alive…" said Samus. "You have a family… right? You need to get back to them… They must be worried."

"…I guess…" said Olimar. "But… We've been through much… I think… I'll head for my ship now… Thank you for what you've all done for me…"

"Wait! Olimar!" cried Samus.

"Leave him," said Luigi. "If he's this depressed about it, he must be really that close with his pikmin. It was probably hard for him to see any deaths at all, but… When they sacrificed themselves for the planet…"

Captain Falcon sighed. "Well… You gotta be a darn optimistic, you guys. Look at the plus side." He pointed at Fox. "We've pwned the rest of the Ring of Darkness except for the master!"

Luigi's jaw dropped. "Wait… That must be why…"

"…You all did?" Samus cried.

Jigglypuff nodded.

There was another moment of silence. At the same time, Luigi, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon fell on their backs, exhausted and unconscious.

Samus smiled. "It looks like you were all winners… This was a complete victory for us…" she said. "Wait… who did Luigi beat?"

* * *

Two days. The smashers actually stayed on a planet for over a day just to rest. That's how exhausted they were. They couldn't even train at all.

"Hey! Olimar! Did you check out this plant yet?" asked Samus, the only one fully recovered from her injuries. She was out helping Olimar with his research by looking for plants and making observations, recording them in her suit.

Olimar rushed over. "I have this in my database already… This is a figwort. The petal colors alternate between red and blue, depending on the current season and the nutrition it gains in the ground through its roots."

"Oh…" said Samus. "Well these flowers just look really unfamiliar to me."

"That's certainly okay."

"Wait. Hold on." Samus stood in place, staring off into nowhere. In reality, she was looking at the displays in her helmet. "…"

"What is wrong, Samus?"

"…No way… Was this just a trap?"

"A trap? What are you talking about?"

"…Pop Star was destroyed. Kirby's homeland."

"Pop Star? Kirby?"

"…I need to tell everyone. We have to track down the master right now!"

"Wait! Samus!" Olimar chased after Samus, but Samus disappeared. He began to run in the direction of their ships.

In a few minutes, Olimar finally caught up with Samus. He hopped into Samus's ship, which was opened, allowing him in.

"Kirby? No!" said Fox. "How could this happen? We just finished off all of the Ring of Darkness except for the master himself!!"

"Then the master must be finishing the job himself…" said Luigi.

Captain Falcon jumped on his feet. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's kick some ass!"

"Hold on," said Fox. "By the time we take off, he could be far away from where Kirby's world was. I certainly hope Kirby isn't dead… But anyways, all we can do is press on and look for where that last part of the Endowment of Exigency is. Remember this?" He held up a slip of paper with Doctor Mario's last words.

Jigglypuff stood on Fox's shoulder and looked at the clue. "…I… don't know… what this means…" she said. "We've all been trying to crack it but…"

"Well the good thing is the enemy doesn't know it either," said Luigi.

"We need help. Bad," said Fox. "I can't think of anything native to the Lylat System that matches these descriptions."

"None in Kanto," said Jigglypuff.

"No shiz in Mute City," said Captain Falcon.

"Nor in the planets I know of," said Samus. "And I doubt there's anything in the pikmin world since pikmin were the second part."

"Nothing in the Mushroom Kingdom matches those descriptions…" said Luigi. "So we have to hunt an object down by tracking each world one by one."

"Not a bad idea," said Fox.

"Excuse me… Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Captain Olimar.

"…I'm sorry…" said Samus, kneeling down to the small astronaut. "But… there isn't much you can do. It'll be too dangerous for you. You should continue your research and protect this land with your knowledge."

"I see… I am incapable…"

"No, she didn't mean that," said Jigglypuff. "You may not be strong like us but… You have a strong point. You're a researcher. You're a scientist. You know much about this world. Take advantage of your strengths and use them to protect the pikmin world."

Olimar nodded. "I suppose I might see you again later?" he asked. "I will continue my research here; there are many specimens that are left unexamined."

"Of course. It's been great seeing you," said Luigi as he shook hands with Olimar.

"Nice meeting you too, dude," said Falcon.

"Don't be too stressed out about the pikmin…" said Samus. "We'll be leaving now."

Olimar hopped out of the ship and watched Samus's ship hover in the air briefly. He smiled as the ship shot out into the skies, disappearing into space.

"Well… I might as well continue!" he said.

* * *

"Samus! Where's the closest world?" asked Fox.

"It's… Hyrule," said Samus.

"Good. Let's stop by there."

"Why?"

"Well… Look at the letter," said Fox as he held it out.

"For those reading this, I should be long dead by now. I have committed a crime for creating the Endowment of Exigency and inflicting destruction upon the entire universe. But there may be a slight ray of hope. Nobody knows of what I have placed in it, aside from whom my hints lead to. Whoever receives this, I hope you will find this source and defeat the users of the Endowment of Exigency. Here are the hints I provide to you:

One word from each line, each line providing a separate hint.

Hidden from its sisters and brothers, significantly different from its siblings, carrying a source of light.

The ones who know of this power live in this chamber.

The power itself lies in a different world, an unknown sage, perplexing, mystifying sibling of ours.

Doctor Mario."

"It's light," said Fox. "It has light. I remember Link mentioning something about light in his adventures."

"So we should give Link a visit again?" asked Samus.

"Of course. Set the course for Hyrule."

Luigi walked in the room. "Fox, get back to sleep. You need your rest for the challenges in Hyrule," he said.

"Nah, I doubt we'll see much in Hyrule," said Fox. "Most of the Ring of Darkness is down. Only the master remains."

"…Good point, but still. Your wound is still killing you," said Luigi.

"Sigh…" Fox walked out of the room.

"How about you, Luigi?" asked Samus.

"…I feel renewed."

"Huh?"

"That's how I feel."

"…What happened down there anyways? Why were you injured?"

"Because… I faced my fears. I faced everything I feared. I can't keep running from the past. I've finally faced it… Destroyed the dark entity of me… and acclaimed a new power… I found myself again. I won't lose control again."

"…I don't get it."

Luigi held out his fist and released an invisible punch at Samus, who blocked just in time.

"Nice reflexes," said Luigi.

"Thanks. But… you don't have your clothes…"

"This is the power Mario granted on me from the stars. I have the power of the star spirits… I've grown. That's simple."

"…Okay, but…" Samus grabbed Luigi around the waist with her grappling beam and threw him backwards out of the control room. "You better get your rest too."


	93. Chapter 93: Light and Time

Hack: Light and Time… The next chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 93: Light and Time**

Young Link was walking around the graveyard once again, next to the Temple of Time, with a banquet of flowers in his hand. Several tombstones were erected everywhere among big mounds of dirt. The atmosphere around him was completely quiet.

"I'm sorry to have come this late, your majesty…" said Young Link. "It was because I was completely enveloped in my travels lately… In Termina. I never knew of your illness and your death until I just arrived back in Hyrule from visiting Termina. I know… I am just making excuses right now. However, I'm hopeful that Zelda will lead our kingdom as Queen to prosperity and peace. I'm confident of that; you've raised her to be a strong woman. You yourself have led us properly to peace. I salute you.

Rest in peace… King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule."

Young Link dropped the flowers on the biggest grave and then knelt down, bowing his head. He stayed in that position for several minutes, not making a sound. The wind blew across his head, his clothes moving with the wind. The crickets chirped throughout the silent night. All was peaceful.

Young Link finally stood up after praying. "It's really peaceful tonight…" he said. "Reconstruction took a while for them… But the postman told me about its completion. We can finally acclaim peace once more… I hope this quietness lasts."

BAM!

Young Link fell flat on his face from the huge earthquake. "What the…"

Samus's ship landed on top of the Temple of Time, out of sight from people that would be on the ground.

"We've here already!" said Samus as she hopped out of the ship.

Fox yawned. "Seriously…? I was having such a nice nap…"

"How are we here already, dude?" asked Captain Falcon.

"I told you, Hyrule was the nearest planet, so it would only take about a day," said Samus.

The five smashers hopped off of the top of the Temple of Time.

"Geez, this place didn't change one bit…" said Luigi. "Could be a good thing."

"What are you talking about?" asked Jigglypuff. "Of course it didn't change…"

"Oh yeah, you and Falcon were at the End of Time. Samus and I fought Vaati here… It was also the first time I faced Alex… Wait…" Luigi's eyes looked up for a second, pondering.

"You guys! What are you doing here?" asked Young Link. "It's only been a few days! What do you need?"

"We need Zelda…" said Fox. "It's this." He held out a piece of paper with Doctor Mario's note. Young Link took it and skimmed over it for a second.

"…These are Doctor Mario's last words… What is this referring to?" asked Young Link. "And why do you need this?"

"The last, unknown ingredient to the Endowment of Exigency…" said Fox. "We helped stop the Ring of Darkness from getting their supply of the other two, which leaves this one."

"Only Doctor Mario knows what it is…" said Samus. "But these hints are what leads to the last ingredient, I think."

"…So… why here?" asked Young Link.

"It was the closest world that we could come to that none of us came from," said Fox. "So can you think of…"

"Guys…" interrupted Luigi. Everyone turned to him. "…We aren't done with the Ring of Darkness just yet."

"What the hell? We killed everyone except the master!" said Captain Falcon.

"…There's Alex. I don't think… he's dead just yet…"

There was silence.

"I knocked him out with a projected missile attack," explained Luigi. "He plowed through the glass of the Halberd, definitely knocked out. I thought he was dead, but seeing that many people were able to survive it… He could be fully recovered."

"It's no problem though," said Fox. "You took him out long time ago. We're all much stronger now."

"True… I guess we should still be aware of it though," said Luigi.

"…Anyways… You can get Adult Link and Zelda this note, right?" asked Fox.

"Sure. It won't take any time at all."

"By the way… Why were you here?" asked Jigglypuff. "We saw you kneeling down… Did someone pass away?"

"…Well… the King had an illness, and the nurses could do nothing about it," said Young Link. "In a few days… He passed away, so Zelda took the throne."

"…Wow… Another death…" said Luigi.

"But that's over with. I'll just go over to Hyrule Castle and give this letter to…"

"Waiiiit, I can get it done much faster than you!" said Captain Falcon as he snatched the note and disappeared.

"…I think Zelda would probably want to see us as well," said Samus as everyone walked towards the gate leading to the castle. Captain Falcon was on his back, looking up at the guards.

"…I got stopped by the guards…" said Falcon, blushing.

"Can't you just beat them up?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Nah, I'm no bad guy."

Samus gave a loud cough in the background.

* * *

"So you've come to visit again about this?" asked Zelda. The smashers, both Links, and Zelda were sitting at a large conference table.

"Yeah," said Fox. "We're going around the worlds to see if there's anything resembling that note, and Hyrule was the closest one."

"…Give me a day or two," said Zelda.

"Zelda, you have an entire nation to recover," said Adult Link. "Reconstruction isn't complete yet. You can't spend a day on a note, neglecting your duties as queen. No offense," he added to the smashers.

"By the way, how is it going with Hyrule?" asked Luigi, smiling.

"Well… We're definitely making progress. For the most part, we just need the civilians to get back on track with their lives. The physical rebuilding is completed, but we need to fix up the taxes and the jobs, along with the allocation of some civilians who are miles away from home. Anyways, if someone's going to try to look through this note, my younger self and I will."

"But Link…" Zelda started.

"Don't worry, you're the queen now," said Samus.

"And a hot one at that," added Captain Falcon.

SLAP! KABOOM!

"You know, you're risking more than a missile and a slap in the face now that Zelda's queen," said Jigglypuff, smirking. "She could sentence you to death!"

"Ha! True that, Jigglypuff," said Zelda. "…But… I suppose Link is right. Give him a few days, and he will come with an answer. Would you like to rest in the castle, meanwhile?"

"I think my ship will do…" said Samus, but the four other smashers, still injured, blurted out impatiently…

"Hell yes!"

"…Never mind, I think they prefer a castle over my ship… Hmph!" Samus said jealously.

* * *

The two Links were up in a guest bedroom in the evening. The five smashers were sound asleep in other bedrooms, and Zelda was in a separate room, filling out reports for Kakariko Village.

"But it has to do with light…"

"Yeah… What we know is that the power they're looking for isn't in there, but rather another clue leading to it…"

"How do we know it's even in Hyrule?"

"We don't. We'll just have to tell the smashers our best guess and hope for the best."

"Do we even _have_ a guess?"

"Not at the moment…"

"One word from each line… carrying a source of light…"

"We went over that already, it's something to do with light."

"I know! No need to baby me around!"

"And there are people in it, because it refers to the ones that know of it…"

"Exactly. So Doctor Mario isn't the only one who knows about it. There's probably a group of people in this area… And if it's such a complex hint, these people have to be secluded…"

"Light… Hidden… Siblings…"

"…Siblings… Light… I think I got it. Give me a second."

"Hm?"

"…I think I've got it… It's our best guess, and for all we know, it could be wrong, but… We'll tell the smashers our results tomorrow morning."

"What is it?"

* * *

After two days, everyone was at the Temple of Time, except for busy Queen Zelda.

"The Temple of Time?" asked Jigglypuff. "But it doesn't have light in it… Well it does, but it's not really based on light…"

"Based on light? You have no clue what this temple holds in the sacred realm…" said Adult Link, smirking.

"Really? Tell us about it," said Fox.

"Rather than tell you, I think we should show you," said Young Link.

They all walked into the Temple of Time and into the sacred room of the Master Sword.

Adult Link began to quote Doctor Mario's note. "Hidden from its sisters and brothers, significantly different from its siblings, carrying a source of light. Light. That is the first word," said Adult Link as he approached the Master Sword.

"The ones who know of this power live in this chamber. The second word. Chamber," said Young Link, walking up with Adult Link.

"Light, and Chamber…" said Luigi, pondering for a moment. "So… something like a chamber of light?"

"Close, but no cigar," said Young Link. "The third hint… The power itself lies in a different world, an unknown sage, perplexing, mystifying sibling of ours…"

"What I know about that…" said Fox. "The actual power comes from a strange world that none of the smashers came from. It's still a key world, hence the word sibling, and the words 'unknown sage' seem to show that it's based off of magic or something…"

"Actually that makes perfect sense," said Samus. "It matches the doctor's descriptions."

"Man, just get on with it!" said Captain Falcon.

KABOOM!

"Patience… is a virtue," said Samus, her arm cannon smoking.

"…Unknown Sage," said Adult Link. "The last word is Sage. Remember the hint says… One word from each line, each line providing a separate hint."

"One word… So you're saying those words are light, chamber, and sage?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Yeah. But the problem is, for all we know, it could be completely wrong."

"Damn it!" said Falcon. "Just… oh man… I don't think I wanna go to the End of Time again…"

"Don't worry, that place is complete darkness. Where we're going is…" said Adult Link. "The Light Temple. In it is the Chamber of Sages."

He touched the master sword, and a column of light surrounded all of the smashers.

* * *

The room was filled with blue waterfalls of light. Several blue hexagonal pillars were raised from nothing. Below these pillars led to pitch darkness. Each pillar had six circles, one of a different color of the rainbow.

The smashers teleported into the center of the largest pillar.

"Welcome… to the Chamber of Sages," said Young Link. "The key attraction to the Light Temple."

"All right, so where is this power?" asked Captain Falcon.

"This note only leads to a place with someone that knows about the power," said Fox. "So… is there anyone here, Adult Link?"

He nodded in response. "Of course. Rauru! You're still in here, right?"

The yellow island glowed with shining blue light. A short, pudgy old man cloaked in yellow emerged from the island.

"What brings you back here?" Rauru, the sage of light asked.

"I have no clue what's going on here," Luigi whispered to Samus.

"Me neither, just watch."

"…So you've cracked it, I'm guessing, with the smashers?" asked Rauru.

"Wait, how do you know about the smashers?" asked Young Link.

"Of course I know. Doctor Mario had come in here and informed me of his last words months ago. Unfortunately… It was in this chamber where he took his last breath by poisoning himself."

"…Man… Why would he do that…" said Luigi.

"He felt as if he inflicted destruction on the world, so he felt suicide was a proper punishment for himself," explained Rauru.

"Well… We've found out what to do with this," said Fox, throwing away the note. "So tell us, Rauru, what did Doctor Mario use to help Ganondorf and Mewtwo create the Endowment of Exigency."

"Alchemy."

Everyone stared at him for a second.

"…Okay, Dragons I know about…" said Samus. "Pikmin are living beings, and I know about them… But I have no clue what alchemy is…"

"Of course you don't; none of us do," said Luigi. "As the note suggested, it's from a world that none of us come from."

"So we need to find a world that has Alchemy, the last part of the power," said Jigglypuff.

"Exactly," said Rauru. "This world is Weyard. It is sage because it is ruled by psyenergy. It is perplexing because of psyenergy's unpredictability. It is mystifying because of all the things psyenergy can do. It is a sibling of our worlds because it is an equal. Weyard and Hyrule are as much alike as Earth and Venus, two planets of a legendary universe."

"All right!" said Captain Falcon. "So let's go to Weyard right now and kick some ass!"

"Psyenergy… Alex used that…" said Luigi. "Weyard is Alex's home world. We'll be facing loads of people like Alex there…"

"That is," replied Fox. "If they're hostile and attack us. I doubt it, and I think it's a world of civilians that can use magic."

"Alchemy is the source of psyenergy," said Rauru. "It is the most vital part of the Endowment of Exigency. With Alchemy itself, one can use a weaker Ren Kiu without the two other parts."

"…WHAT? So… Rundas… he was able to use Ren Kiu because he trained in Weyard!" said Samus.

"Rundas? Who's this?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I faced him and two other bounty hunters… I knew all of them. Rundas used Ren Kiu in conjunction with his phazon hyper mode, like I do. He said he trained from an alternate world… He must've used Alchemy to unleash Ren Kiu."

"All the better to stop the Ring of Darkness from getting to Weyard," said Captian Falcon. "Let's go, dang it!"

"I have told you all I know…" said Rauru.

"But I've got more to tell you guys," said a cloaked man, who teleported in the middle of the pillar.

"Gaspar!" cried Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon.

Gaspar smiled. "Yes, it's good to see how much you both have grown more powerful… I assume the training has paid off?"

"Totally!" said Falcon.

"Without a doubt."

"Wait, is he the guy you met in the End of Time?" asked Luigi.

Jigglypuff and Falcon nodded. "So what do you have to tell us, dude?"

"In Weyard… Seek a blond-haired adept. The hero of Weyard. And you will fight a foe more powerful than you have ever imagined…"

"The master will be there?" asked Fox.

"The master does not know that Alchemy is the last ingredient, and neither does Alex."

"So Alex IS still alive!" exclaimed Luigi.

"Yes. You must go to Weyard, whether or not because of Alchemy. Alex is there right now, biding his time. Trust me, you do not want to underestimate him."

"Luigi kicked his ass a while ago," said Falcon. "And we're all ten times stronger! If Fox can beat Metaknight, all of us can kill Alex!"

"Heh…" Gaspar chuckled. "Think as you will. You will need the hero's help. And… Once you're done, come back here."

"Why?" everyone asked.

"I know of your quest. The End of Time awaits you for your final preparations."

"…I see…" said Fox. "I'll be sure to be back here."

"So you're going to come back again later?" asked Young Link.

"Why? You don't want them to come back?" asked Adult Link. "It's been great seeing you again, Luigi. Just don't die out there or anything."

Luigi shook hands with Adult Link. "Same here."

"So that's all you have, Gaspar?" asked Samus.

Gaspar nodded. "Yes. I pray for your success."

Rauru raised his hands up. "I will bring you five to your ship…" he said. "The two destined heroes of time… Protect the land of Hyrule."

"Will do," said both Links.

A white light shined through the entire room, blinding everyone. When the light disappeared, Fox, Samus, Captain Falcon, Luigi, and Jigglypuff were inside Samus's ship, already started.

"So… Let's go to Weyard?" asked Samus. "Gaspar pointed it out on the ship's map and marked it, so… It'll take another few days to get there."

"Let's get going then!" said Fox.

* * *

"So why are we still here?" asked Adult Link.

Gaspar smiled. "The land of Hyrule will be tended to by itself. Bring Zelda here. You…" he looked at Young Link. "Stay here. I need your help contacting the smashers."

"Since when were you a part of the smash community?" asked Young Link as Adult Link teleported away.

"Since forever. I've been with you all ever since the original twelve fought master hand. I was with you when you were twenty-five and fought both the Master and Crazy Hands, and for this final fight, I will be with you all again for the final fight."

"Okay… So where will you send me first?" asked Young Link.

"Mushroom Kingdom… We need Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, and Donkey Kong. One other person will be capable of these challenges who was not previously a smasher… Ask them about him."

"Who exactly?"

"Princess Peach will point out the best man for you. Don't worry. Do not fail me."

Young Link smiled. "Don't worry. Just send me off."


	94. Chapter 94: Enter Isaac

Hack: Yeah… Extremely late update, I know. Action will instantly start next chapter! As the chapter title suggests, you'll see Isaac in this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 94: Enter Isaac**

"There! Is that it?" Luigi pointed at an unknown planet on the electric map in Samus's computer.

"Yeah, probably… The directions Gaspar gave us point to it," said Samus.

"I've got some research done on Weyard…" said Fox, coming into the room.

"Hm, where are Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon?" asked Samus.

"Training. Anyways, we don't know anything about this world, so I just took some notes so we can adjust…" Fox took out a sheet of paper. "Weyard's a world filled with people called adepts, and Alex was an adept."

"Adepts? They're people that wield that Psyenergy stuff then, right?" asked Luigi.

"Yeah, it says so here," said Fox. "So… if the entire world is nice, we'll make good friends. If they're hostile…"

"They shouldn't be a problem then," said Jigglypuff, walking in with Captain Falcon.

"I can just kick all their asses!" said Falcon, flexing his muscles.

"Well we could… But first, they're all adepts," said Fox.

"I'm guessing they're all on Alex's level?" asked Luigi, gulping.

"Probably not, but…"

"I'd say we'd be facing a bunch of weaker Alex's then," said Samus. "If we get into a fight."

"And also, these are civilians. We don't want to come to bad terms with an entire world," said Jigglypuff.

"Yeah. Heard that, Falcon?" said Luigi, nudging Falcon in the knee.

"But… But… I wanna kick some ass!"

"At all costs, we must not kill any civilians, whether or not they are adepts," said Fox. "Anyways, not all of them use water like Alex… Some use fire, wind, electricity… Pretty much all the elements you can think of."

"Well then… Where are we going to start in Weyard?" asked Luigi. "We're there to hunt down Alex and stop him from obtaining the power of Alchemy."

"That power lies in the Golden Sun. It is the source of all Psyenergy and Alchemy," said Samus. "I remember from my previous research months ago. The Golden Sun is raised when all four elemental lighthouses of the world are lit, and it gives eternal and infinite power of Psyenergy to whomever stands at the top of the mountain… I think we should go to that mountain."

"What mountain is that?" asked Jigglypuff.

"…Probably the tallest mountain. I'll get the ship to land near there, but I don't want my ship to be easily seen…" explained Samus.

"I wonder… if we'll see allies or enemies once we land…" said Luigi.

"Don't worry! They'll all fall in love with us!" said Captain Falcon.

"…Because of you?" asked Samus. Falcon nodded.

BOOM

* * *

Vale. A village in peace. The guardian of Mount Aleph, where the Golden Sun once rose. Also home to the heroes and heroines of Weyard, the leader of which was Isaac.

"Something's been wrong…" Isaac muttered to himself, the yellow-haired adept. He was a Venus Adept, a user of earth Psyenergy.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Ivan, another yellow-haired adept. However, he was younger and much shorter than Isaac; his hair was also not spiky. He controlled Jupiter Psyenergy, the power of wind and electricity.

"Can't you feel it?" Isaac asked Ivan. "Mount Aleph… It hasn't been right lately. The flow of alchemy's been unstable lately…"

"I feel it too… I haven't received any visions of it yet though."

"You sure you need to stay in Vale? You can teleport back to Contigo whenever you want. You really don't need to help out with the reconstruction, after Alex destroyed it that year before…"

"No, if something's gone wrong, I'll need to be there to help. Wait…" Ivan closed his eyes. "…There's someone coming…"

"What? Where? Are they adepts?"

Ivan shook his head. "They seem… foreign… From the sky…"

Isaac looked up. "…I know what you mean…"

"Should I go get the others?"

"Nah, I think us two should suffice if they're hostile."

* * *

"There! Is that it?" asked Luigi.

"Yeah, it's the big mountain that stands out…" said Jigglypuff.

"Do you think we can get closer without being noticed? We're up in the clouds anyways," said Fox.

"Hm, it's hard to say. There's a village right in front of it, probably the guardians of Mount Aleph…" said Samus.

"Why don't we just go down there and beat the crap out of whoever tries to beat us?" asked Captain Falcon.

"No, we can't get innocent lives tangled in this!" said Fox.

_You're right, you don't want innocent lives involved with your actions, whoever you are._

Everyone jumped. Someone's voice had rung through all their minds.

"Did you hear that?" asked Samus.

"A teenage guy's voice, right?" asked Luigi.

"Yeah, definitely some young dude," said Falcon.

_Young dude? Ha! You won't be landing anywhere near Mount Aleph. We won't allow you to._

"Someone's hearing us… Is this the power of adepts?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Hopefully not all adepts…" said Fox. "Samus, land the ship."

"All right." Samus dove the ship down below the clouds, but a few seconds later…

_DESTRUCT RAY!!!_

The ship shook violently as a heavy concentrated bolt of lightning zapped through, almost hitting Samus.

"ALERT! SHIELDS ARE DOWN BY THIRTY PERCENT."

"Already? How powerful is this guy?" asked Samus.

_I will warn you once more._

"We are not here to harm you!" cried Luigi. "If you can hear us!"

Apparently the guy couldn't since he didn't reply. The ship was smoking black, but it continued to descend closer to Mount Aleph.

_It's closer to the ground… Isaac, take it out._

The ship was so close to the ground that they could hear another boy's voice cry out, "_STONE SPIRE!_"

The ship boosted forward as quickly as it could to avoid a set of huge, pointed stone stalactites falling from the sky. Samus had to maneuver her ship to the left without stopping to avoid more bolts of electricity.

"She can't land the ship…" said Luigi. "Samus! You find a way to land, we'll take care of these guys!"

Luigi, Fox, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon popped out of the cockpit, and landed in the soft grass. They were at the base of the towering Mount Aleph, facing two teenage boys: Isaac and Ivan.

"Who are you?" asked Fox.

"No need for me to answer to intruders," said Isaac as he drew his blade: The Sol Blade. Ivan drew a staff: The Lachesis Rule.

"If we have to fight, then we won't go down that easily!" said Jigglypuff.

Captain Falcon instantly appeared behind Isaac, who was caught off guard by this speed. However, once Falcon released a bullet punch, a small creature appeared on Isaac's shoulder, creating a barrier blocking the punch.

"Thank you, Granite," said Isaac. "_Odyssey!_"

SHING! SHING!

A sword made of energy pierced through Captain Falcon from above. Another came from below, striking the same spot on his chest. Isaac held his blade up and pierced it through Captain Falcon's chest, releasing earth energy. There was a huge explosion and Falcon was sent flying through trees, bleeding profusely.

Fox sped at Isaac, but he was stopped by a ray, and was forced back into position with Luigi and Jigglypuff.

"You think you can take on all of us?" asked Luigi.

"Why not?" said Ivan. He felt a blast of energy from Luigi's ranged punch, knocking him off his feet. He flipped in the air with his nimble body and snapped his fingers, muttering, "_Spark Plasma!_"

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Powerful bolts of lightning rained down on the three smashers, forcing them on the defensive. Each time a bolt struck the ground, a huge explosion occurred on that spot.

Jigglypuff found an open spot in the attack, standing in a spot where no bolts struck, and immediately fired a flamethrower attack at Ivan. Ivan released another one of those strange creatures, then sped to the side, avoiding the fire attack!

Fox saw Ivan from his side and fired his blaster in that direction, but Ivan dodged it swiftly with his incredible speed. Jigglypuff appeared in front of Ivan, catching him off guard this time with her agility ability. Jigglypuff threw a pound attack into Ivan's head, blowing him away.

Isaac was right behind Jigglypuff, holding his hand out. "_Ragnarok!_"

KABOOM!

Another colossal sword of earth energy crashed into Jigglypuff, blowing her away into the sky.

"These people really are on Alex's level…" muttered Luigi.

"Naw really? We've got tricks up our sleeves though," said Fox, grinning. "_Level Two: Brave Form!_"

Fox drew his two staffs out. "Wait, Luigi! How did you release that blast… without your weapons…?"

"Let's just say that I grew more powerful," said Luigi, grinning as well.

"Two versus two, you say?" asked Isaac. "It's on!"

Ivan appeared right in front of Fox, swinging his staff, but Fox blocked it. He knocked Ivan away, leaving him vulnerable for a moment, then fired a huge volley of fireballs. Ivan dodged every single one, but Fox had enough time to come right up in front of Ivan. He used an x-shaped slash with both staffs into Ivan's chest, knocking him away and leaving a deep wound.

Luigi fired an invisible punch at Isaac, who blocked it with the Sol Blade. Isaac jumped at Luigi, swinging his long sword at him. Luigi dodged each one, blocking a slash with his hybrid fire and electric shield. He shoved it into Isaac, but Isaac was not pushed away. Isaac snapped his finger, causing the ground right below Luigi to pop up and knock him off his feet.

"Gah!"

Isaac held his sword up. "Megiddo!" The sword glowed and a huge meteor came down from the sky. He jumped several feet up into the air, right behind the falling and burning meteor. He then knocked his sword into the meteor, sending it down at Luigi, who was still off his feet from being tripped.

KABOOM!

A huge explosion ensued, and Fox and Ivan turned to look at what happened. Isaac landed, and Luigi was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know what you're here for, but I must ask of you all to leave. We clearly overpower you guys…" said Isaac.

BAM!

Luigi fired out of nowhere, landing a powerful punch in Isaac's gut. Isaac coughed blood out, and he drew his sword again, but he hesitated.

Samus had Ivan by the neck, pointing her arm cannon in his head. "Put your sword down, or else he dies."

"Ivan!"

"What… happened…? I can't use Psyenergy…"

"Disable!" said Jigglypuff, appearing out of nowhere. "I used disable on this boy. You might as well give up, Isaac…"

Captain Falcon also appeared right beside Samus. "Yep! We're totally got you!"

Isaac dropped his sword. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. You guys just attacked us out of nowhere," said Fox.

"Really? I find that hard to believe," said Isaac. "Seeing as this mountain's been more and more unstable, and at the same time you guys just come out of nowhere. You guys can't even be human… can you?"

Samus released Ivan. Ivan was coughing, holding his throat. "Could he be… from there?"

"Nah, probably from out of Weyard. Anyways… You can't just come down here and expect to be welcomed in Vale, especially if you land right by Mount Aleph, our sacred mountain."

"We're here to stop a Mercury Adept named Alex," said Luigi. "Do you know him?"

Isaac and Ivan looked at each other. "You know Alex?" asked Ivan.

"Yeah… He's part of the Ring of Darkness, an alliance of dark enemies that threaten to rule the universe. He might be here to take over Alchemy for his own use…" explained Luigi.

"No way… He was killed by the Wise One after the Golden Sun was lit," said Isaac. "It can't be…"

"He could've survived the explosion of Mount Aleph though… The Wise One just stunned him," said Ivan. "Overpowered…" Ivan felt a great burden lift off of his chest; Jigglypuff's disable was gone.

Ivan closed his eyes briefly, glowing white.

_What? He's glowing… What is he doing? _Samus thought.

_I see… I see what you've been through. It's been pretty long…_

Ivan opened his eyes. Samus was scared now. "What were you doing?"

"Reading your mind. Sorry about attacking you guys, but we can't be too careful…"

"Ivan, these guys aren't against us then?"

"They're on our side. They were looking for you to help fight Alex," said Ivan. "The entire story is pretty long… I don't think you want to know about it."

"Ha! Tell that to Garet, he hates being lectured. Well if you guys are truly on our side… I'm sincerely sorry for attacking you."

"It's okay… I mean, we were actually expecting a whole army of Alex's to fight against us," said Fox.

"Nah, adepts as powerful as Alex are hard to come by," said Ivan. "And I believe we haven't been properly introduced…"

"I'm Fox."

"Luigi."

"Jigglypuff."

"Name's Samus."

"Better watch out for that hot gal, cuz she's angry!"

KABOOM!

"…Did he just call her a hot gal?" asked Isaac.

"Er yeah… He's a bit of a womanizer," said Jigglypuff. "Don't worry, that happens all the time. His name's Captain Falcon by the way."

"Ah, all right. My name is Isaac, as you probably know, and this is Ivan, a Jupiter Adept, hard to come by."

"You aren't so bad yourself, Isaac," said Ivan.

"You guys are pretty powerful though," said Fox.

"I would say you're on Alex's level about…" said Luigi.

"He's probably stronger…" said Isaac. "He has three quarters of the power of the Golden Sun already, but the Wise One stunned him. He has to regain it by coming back to Mount Aleph."

"Where's the other quarter?" asked Samus.

"…Alex doesn't have it," said Ivan. "It was put into the Mars Star and Isaac had it, so he has that last bit."

"Mars Star?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I remember!" said Falcon. "I actually remember stuff that Samus told us about!"

"Yeah, it sounds familiar when I was doing some outside research," said Samus. "There were four lighthouses in Weyard, and once all four are lit, alchemy will be unleashed through the world…"

"Yeah. Each lighthouse is lit by their respective elemental star," said Isaac. "And the last bit of the Golden Sun was in the Mars Star… It was transferred into my body once I cast it into the Mars Lighthouse."

"…Do you think the Golden Sun is what alchemy is?" Fox asked Luigi.

"Hard to say… It unleashes alchemy, but…" Luigi looked up at the mountain. "…It must be Mount Aleph…"

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion at the top of Mount Aleph. Everyone looked up, startled.

"Whoa! What just happened?" asked Falcon.

"…We have to gather everyone," said Isaac. "It must be true then… Alex must really be alive, and he's probably back to reclaim the Golden Sun."

"Okay." Ivan sped off into a green blur, disappearing into the village of Vale.

"We can help," said Fox.

"Really? It's really none of your business though, and…"

"We came here to take down Alex," said Samus.

"And personally, I want to finish him off…" said Luigi, flicking his wrists anxiously.

"…All right, but with people from a different universe…" Isaac flashed his eyes at Jigglypuff and Fox. "You shouldn't be seen in public."

"It's no big deal," said Jigglypuff. "Just tell me what the entrance looks like."

Isaac raised an eyebrow. "It's just your typical mountain. There's a pair of blue doors on the top of a hill. At its base is a small sanctuary, where people guard the mountain from trespassers."

"Okay."

"I'll see you there then," said Isaac as he sped off as well.

"So how do you plan on getting to the entrance unnoticed?" Fox asked Jigglypuff.

"Teleport. I just need an image in my head," said Jigglypuff. "Grab on me, everyone."

"I dunno…" said Luigi as he put his right hand on Jigglypuff's head. "We've never been there before…"

"C'mon! Jiggly's skills are pure ownage!" said Falcon, grabbing Jigglypuff's hand. "Take us there, Jiggs!"

Jigglypuff nodded confidently. "Just don't let go. _Teleport!_"

Suddenly, everyone began to spin. Jigglypuff's face gave a puzzled look. Before long, everyone separated, and teleported.

* * *

Luigi and Fox landed on solid ground. They both looked up, facing a huge violet mountain with swirling winds. Scattered around the sides of the mountain were various violet hurricanes and stone heads that fired more tornadoes.

"…This… doesn't look like it…" said Luigi, looking around. Around them was endless desert, aside from the mountain itself.

"Yeah… Maybe…" Fox looked around as well. "The others… I don't see them."

"We must be miles away from Vale…" muttered Luigi. "What Jigglypuff just did probably screwed up…"

Fox's memory briefly flashed, and he remember, from his speed eyes, that he saw the face of someone very familiar while they were teleporting…

"…It was Alex…" said Fox. "He disrupted the teleport. We must all be scattered around Weyard now."

"Damn it!" Luigi punched the ground. "How are we going to get back now?"

Fox shrugged. "This mountain does have blue doors… Maybe Jigglypuff also forgot the sanctuary that Isaac mentioned."

"Well… Shall we climb it?" asked Luigi. "Maybe we could get a better view of the world."

Fox read a sign next to the base of the mountain. "Air's Rock. This must be a place for wind adepts, like Ivan."

"Hm, well maybe we can explore a bit…" said Luigi. "We could find a way to get back to Vale at the top, hopefully."

"Hopefully…" Fox muttered.

"It must go up for miles…" said Luigi as he blasted off from the ground. Fox sighed as he grabbed his staff and launched himself as well.

* * *

"It's really hot in here… Oh man, I'm sweaty already," said Falcon, fanning himself. They were around a brown rocky mountain, but rather than being surrounded by hurricanes, fireballs were flying everywhere. Magma was flowing from the top. He walked to the base of the mountain, squinting his eyes in the heat waves.

"Magma… Rock… Hm… I'm probably miles away… Jiggs must've screwed up or something…" he muttered to himself. He disappeared for a moment. After a few seconds, he came back to the mountain. "Nope… No village in sight... I thought my sexy speed would've been enough to find something…"

He looked up at the top of the mountain, which was covered in black smoke. "Let's… speed up then!" He began to run up the side of the mountain, to see whatever is at the top…"

* * *

Jigglypuff and Samus both landed right in front of Mount Aleph, kneeling on the ground. Samus shook her head, unaware of the other three smashers missing.

"No! Where are they?" cried Jigglypuff. "They let go!"

"Wait… huh?" Samus groaned. "WHAT? You mean Fox… Luigi… That perv…"

"Something made me let go… They're probably miles away by now…" said Jigglypuff.

Samus smiled. "Well… They'll be fine, wherever they are."

"But… It's my fault!"

"No… I saw Alex… He forced us apart…"

"…Alex…"

"Let's go take him out then!" said Samus, rushing into the door. Jigglypuff followed her, hopping on her light feet.

Alex was on top of Mount Aleph, smiling. "Heh… Only two remain… I wonder if even Samus will provide a nice challenge? Come… Fall into the traps I have lain!"


	95. Chapter 95: Air's Rock and Magma Rock

Hack: Somewhat short, uneventful, transition chapter. Fights to come next!

* * *

**Chapter 95: Air's Rock and Magma Rock**

Luigi and Fox were both standing on a ledge, panting. They were miles up from the base, and their destination was seemingly endless.

"There's got… to be… an end…" said Luigi. It was getting harder and harder to climb, even with their inhumane abilities, because the winds were blowing down on them with the force of a giant.

"Yeah… We have to climb from the inside…" said Fox. "Is there even an inside though?"

"…We'll have to check…" said Luigi. He held out his palm against the side and released a mixture of lightning and fire energy, blowing up a small hole, barely large enough to fit both of them in. The winds around them were blowing stronger and stronger. "Hurry, Fox! Get in!"

Fox climbed in, followed by Luigi. They both landed on top of a brown platform. Before them stood a huge stone head releasing hurricanes. Scattered around the big chamber were smaller stone heads blowing winds. Floating violet platforms were also scattered around, barely large enough for one person to stand on.

"…Neat temple…" muttered Fox.

"Wish we had Ivan in here… This seems to be a haven for Jupiter adepts," said Luigi.

"Jupiter adepts?"

"Jupiter adepts… adepts that control wind and lightning. Mars adepts control fire, Mercury manipulate water and ice, and Venus adepts control the ground."

"Oh right… That's what Samus said while reporting her research."

Luigi looked up. "Man, this mountain goes on forever…"

"I see what you mean. I can't see a ceiling at all," Fox replied with a sigh.

The duo began to jump from floating platform to platform, realizing that it was much easier than climbing up the side of the mountain. As a first, there were no heavy winds blowing down on them constantly. An occasional tornado flew at them from the side, but it was no match for Fox's staff's shield.

After a few hours of endless climbing, they finally began to see the brown cavern ceiling above.

"Finally! I really hope this is the end!" said Fox, sweating like mad.

"Really… The walls are starting to close in too, so we must be nearing the peak," said Luigi. He looked up to see a huge epic pair of violet doors. "Something must be hiding behind those doors over there…"

"Maybe it's our ticket back to Vale," said Fox, drawing his staff. "I've lost track… Is it your turn or mine?"

"I blasted us off of that ledge twenty minutes ago," said Luigi. "It's your turn."

"Okay." Fox grabbed Luigi's hand and pointed his staff down at the ground. It glowed white as they both fired like a rocket upwards. They began to lose upward momentum when they reached the height of the double doors.

Suddenly, several brown monster birds surrounded them.

"Fifth time… I'm getting tired of these…" Luigi muttered.

All of the birds dive bombed down at them simultaneously, but Fox grabbed his blaster and sniped away the nearest ones in an instant. Luigi released a fiery explosion on the ones at his side.

They both finally landed on the ledge at the double doors. Half of the birds were remaining, and they were all glowing.

"…Have you seen them do that before?" asked Fox.

"No… I don't think we want to find out," said Luigi.

All of the birds sent several violet waves of wind at the pair, surrounding them from every angle.

"Crap!" Fox released the shield from his staff, covering both of them within a blue barrier. "Those blasts are really powerful… I can't hold on much longer…"

"We go through the doors and lock them out!" said Luigi. He dashed out of the barrier, rolled underneath one sonic wave, and opened the door.

Fox withdrew his barrier and turned on his reflector briefly, deflecting some of the waves back at the birds, who dodged all of their own attacks. Fox immediately wavedashed out of his reflector attack and rolled through the open door. Luigi closed the door immediately, hearing several clanging noises.

"Phew… We finally made it…" said Luigi.

"…It looks like we came to some chamber…" said Fox. Around them were more violet platforms, but they all surrounded one stone circular pillar glowing with radiant energy.

"It doesn't hurt to check it out… This must be what's at the top of Air's Rock," said Luigi.

They hopped the last few platforms and finally reached a ledge along the cylindrical pillar. Fox jumped at the pillar, but an invisible force field deflect him, blowing him away back to the ledge.

"Ow!"

"Fox! You okay?"

"Yeah… I can't get in for some reason… It probably only accepts Jupiter Adepts…"

Luigi held his hand out. He put his hand into the barrier and it accepted him. He jumped in, completely reenergized.

"Huh… this is weird!" said Luigi.

"Yeah, how are you an adept?" asked Fox.

"I get it now… I control lightning, so Air's Rock thinks of me as a Jupiter Adept. Psyenergy… Magic… Star Power… PSI… They're all the same think, just used differently."

"Really? I don't really have any specific element that I control, so I can't go in… Huh?" Fox turned his head to see his staff glowing blue. The ceiling of the chamber began to glow with it as well.

"You're staff's glowing, Fox," said Luigi.

"Yeah, I know. You think I can slash myself in?"

Before Luigi replied, Fox jumped at the pillar again, spinning his staff around. There was the sound of glass shattering and the barrier was gone. Fox landed on the center of the pillar. He raised his staff high above his head, remembering how he received his staff powers back on Dinosaur Planet…

"Fox…"

Blue electricity pounded into the staff. Fox held on tightly, not letting go of his weapon. The staff continued to vibrate violently, pouring out infinite energy. Suddenly, the electricity stopped shooting through. Fox held his staff out, looking at it.

"…What happened?" asked Luigi.

Fox pointed his staff out at the wall. "Excellent… I've got fire, ice, and now lightning…" He released a volley of electric balls at the wall, seeing them explode with contact. The explosions created another small hole in the wall. "I can take on Alex with this…"

"Great! Let me try something…" Luigi came to the center of the pillar and raised his hand up high. Lightning fired down on him, shocking him violently. "OWW!!" Luigi immediately lowered his hand, and Fox immediately ran at Luigi.

"Luigi! You okay?"

"Yeah… Hold on… I have an idea… If I can't gain any new powers, I can borrow some…"

"Borrow… what?"

"After fighting back on the pikmin world… I learned how to unleash my full potential. I can absorb fire and electricity whenever I want to," explained Luigi. "Without my gloves." He raised his right fist again, and lightning shot down. Instead of feeling pain, however, Luigi began to absorb the powerful lightning into his fist. He continued to hold on for a minute, until his body was no longer able to hold the electricity. He immediately snapped his hand away from the ceiling, breaking his bond with Air's Rock.

"Ow… That's… A lot…" said Luigi.

"Heh, I'm guessing you have more electricity than Pikachu can ever hope to unleash," said Fox.

"Damn straight. We'll have to see about how Alex reacts when he feels this…"

The pillar suddenly began to glow and a small silver pebble fell from the ceiling. Luigi caught it with his left hand.

"A pebble…?" asked Fox.

"…It has Psyenergy in it," said Luigi. "This is great… We can get back to Vale with our new powers…"

"What? You mean you can teleport us?" exclaimed Fox.

"Yeah… It's a temporary Teleport Lapis. I can feel what it does…"

"How do you know?" Fox asked.

"…It's calling to me. Hold my hand, Fox."

Fox obeyed. Luigi closed his eyes in concentration.

"_Teleport!_"

* * *

"Damn, this thing goes on forever…" muttered Captain Falcon. "How much farther do I have to climb? I can't run on straight walls forever!"

Like in the same case as that of Luigi and Fox, Captain Falcon looked up to only see black smoke; he did not see the top of Magma Rock.

Captain Falcon rested on a ledge jutting out after knocking out several lava monsters occupying it in an instant. He panted a little, looking up. He just knew there was something useful at the top, and maybe a way back to Vale…

_But what do I need at this point? I've got it all… Speed! Fire! Darkness! And Power from my shadow punches! I can use ranged attacks! I have it all!_

_But you failed to protect Samus from Ridley long ago… You failed to save Roy from Ashnard… You failed to defeat those pokemon at Saffron City._

_But that was long ago!_

_Not Roy's death._

…_That… Was truly… if I wasn't slow enough… If only I… I could've saved him…_

_He's gone… Truly gone… One of my best smasher friends… One of the few people that I could trust without them sneering down on me… He was different from my friends back in Mute City. Everyone there always looks down on me because they want to beat me, to overcome my skills… Especially Samurai Goroh. And there's Black Shadow… Who's dead now… The smashers are the only people who I can call true friends, and Roy is one of them… He understood me. We chased girls together, we played with fire together, we pawned in doubles battles back in the mansion, we were almost an unstoppable duo._

_He's really gone now… I never got much of a change to think of it since we had to miss his funeral… Eliwood must be really depressed…_

Captain Falcon looked up, remembering what Eliwood told him.

"_You were one of Roy's true friends, someone from a different universe," said Eliwood. "I want you to have his sword…"_

"_The Sealed Sword? No way in hell I know how to use that!"_

"_He trusts you, and the other smashers as well… If you ever need help, call on its power. Call for it. Just remember that before you leave. I know you can't attend his funeral…"_

"_It's fine. Thanks for the offer. I won't forget it."_

Captain Falcon ran up the wall a little more, somewhat rested.

"_It's hopeless. You can't protect any damn thin," said Wolf. "You were unable to save Samus the first time from us on my mother ship, and you won't be able to do anything about this planet."_

_I've never been able to protect anyone these days, god damn it… Who am I to boast about my powers when I can't use them properly? Luigi, Fox, Samus, and Jigglypuff are waiting for me in Mount Aleph, and I have to do all I can to make up for my darn mistakes._

_Today things are going to change. Today I will not allow anyone to get hurt._

Captain Falcon gained another boost of speed, releasing fire behind his feet. He could finally see the very peak of Magma Rock. He stopped at the very top of the mountain, seeing nothing but magma.

"Damn, it's hot out here… What's this?"

He saw a small stone on top of a tablet. He walked up to it, reading it.

"I can't read a damn thing…"

Instinctively, he placed a hand on top of the tablet. Suddenly, it began to grow warm. He immediately withdrew his hand, but the tablet crumbled into rubble. Among it was a small red pebble. Captain Falcon stared at it after carefully picking it up. It seemed to be sending a message to him.

_Use me when you need to protect…_

Captain Falcon's body disappeared in red light…

* * *

Samus and Jigglypuff were rushing up the steps inside Mount Aleph. The walls were bright blue, and various white statues were erected along the walls. The floor was a beautiful shade of violet. Stained glass scattered along the blue walls.

Isaac was in the center of the room, looking around carefully.

"Isaac! What are you doing?" asked Samus.

Isaac turned. "I need to find a portal… Alex was in here. I know it."

"But… Where's Ivan?" asked Jigglypuff.

"I don't know… I gathered the five other adepts that were in Vale, but we were separated… What about the three guys you were with?"

"We got separated too…"

"You have no need to worry, Isaac, as your companions are perfectly in my care," Alex's voice boomed through the room.

"Alex! What have you done?"

"Hm, well it looks like I will have to deal with you first…"

A wall of water separated Isaac from Samus and Jigglypuff.

"Hey!" Isaac cried out. Suddenly, two more figures teleported into Samus and Jigglypuff's side.

"While I deal with you, I'll have two of your friends duel it out with your new friends… Maybe I can knock out two birds with one stone! Ha!"

One of the figures was Ivan, except his eyes were strangely violet instead of blue now. Beside him was a red-haired boy with a much larger body than Isaac, carrying an axe.

"Ivan! Garet!" Isaac called out; the latter figure was named Garet apparently.

"Don't worry, you take care of Alex!" said Jigglypuff. "We'll take on these guys!"

"But… Don't kill them!"

"Of course we won't," said Samus. "We just have to knock them out so Alex loses control over them."

Isaac nodded, although his eyes showed fear in what might happen to his friends. He turned around and ran up the steps.

* * *

Luigi and Fox appeared at the entrance to Mount Aleph.

"We're here… We actually got back…" panted Fox.

"Yeah… I'm surprised I pulled it off…" Luigi wiped away some sweat on his forehead.

"We have to catch up with the others."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," said an unknown teenage voice.

A brown-haired boy slightly older than Isaac appeared. His hair covered one of his eyes. He wore a brown ape and wore a green shirt. Beside him was a red-haired girl with red eyes, carrying a thin sword in her right hand.

"This must be… Felix and Jenna…" said Fox. "I remember from Samus's research."

"But why are they stopping us?" asked Luigi.

"That's for you to figure out," said Jenna. "_Serpent Fume!_"

A snake with a dragon's head made of fire shot out from Jenna's hand and towards the pair of smashers. They both dove out of the way.

"They've either… Went out of their minds…" said Fox.

"Or Alex must've done something," said Luigi. "But we shouldn't kill them… I don't think Isaac would appreciate it…"

"I concur."


	96. Chapter 96: The Battle of Psyenergy

Hack:

Hack: Two brief fights. The final showdown will be coming next chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 96: The Battle of Psyenergy**

"So how're we going to take them out without heavy damage?" asked Jigglypuff, facing the two Psyenergy adepts.

"Easy. Sing them," said Samus.

"What? But… The stronger the opponent is, the longer it takes for them to sleep!"

"Which is why I have to weaken them," explained Samus. "We can't use our full power, or else we'll kill Isaac's friends. But without our full powers, they aren't going to go down very easily."

"…We'll have to try," said Jigglypuff.

Ivan raised his hands. "_Destruct Ray!_"

Three huge lightning bolts shot down from the sky, targeting Samus. Samus immediately dashed away to avoid it, firing several power beam shots at Ivan.

"_Resist!_"

The beam shots deflected off of Ivan's body, doing little damage. Samus rushed forward at Ivan, but Ivan raised a light blade and pointed it at Samus. It radiantly glowed gold, and several golden arrows shot out of it.

"_Unleash Vengeance!_"

Several golden arrows pointed at Samus and shot towards her. She immediately rushed to the side and out of the way. The arrows struck the wall, unleashing several explosions of wind and blowing down the wall.

Samus appeared directly behind Ivan and released a powerful super missile, blasting him away. Ivan landed on his feet, facing Samus. He dodged another super missile and sped directly up to Samus.

_He's fast!_

BAM! Samus, who didn't expect Ivan to move this quickly, took a blow in the head from Ivan's blade. A small cut was visible on her helmet, but it didn't hurt her much.

Meanwhile, Jigglypuff was fending off Garet, who was much slower but tougher than Ivan.

"_Flamethrower!_"

A stream of fire shot at Garet, but Garet himself fired his own beam of fire.

"_Heat Wave!_"

The beam of fire pierced through Jigglypuff's attack and scorched her body. Jigglypuff was blasted into the stone wall, causing rocks to crumble. Jigglypuff immediately stood back up, just to avoid another heat wave attack.

"He uses fire?" said Jigglypuff. "Well then… _Surf!_"

She flooded the entire room with a huge wave of water, forcing Ivan and Samus to dash to the ceiling. Garet was unfortunate enough to take the entire blow. He was also blasted into the opposite wall by water. Soaking wet, Garet stood back up, holding his hand out.

"_Pyroclasm!_"

Jigglypuff instantly began to sweat. The ground opened up four holes around her, spewing out hot columns of magma. They completely surrounded Jigglypuff, only allowing her to move up to escape the heat.

And move up she did. Jigglypuff floated vertically upwards, just to meet with Garet's fiery blade. Garet slammed her down into the ground with brute force; then he held out his hand, charging fire.

"_Inferno!_"

Several fireballs spewed out from his hands, all flying at Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff charged her hands, then cried, "_Ice Beam!_"

It was a competition between hot and cold. Jigglypuff's ice beam was stopped by Garet's barrage of fireballs, but none of the fireballs shot through the icy barrier either. Jigglypuff took this moment to use agility, appearing right next to Garet with her increased speed.

"_Meteor Mash!_"

Jigglypuff's steel fist was blocked by Garet's sword. Jigglypuff's power from the attack was overpowering Garet's sword, but Garet had enough strength to not be blown away by the attack. He jumped away, successfully blocking the powerful attack. Jigglypuff landed at the other side of the inferno of magma.

_My god, he's strong! He even had enough physical power to block my meteor mash with just his arm strength! I don't think even Black Shadow can do that!_

Garet was spinning his sword around, leaving traces of fire behind. He held it up and cried, "_Purgatory!_"

Jigglypuff gasped as she was surrounded by a cage of fire. The cage instantly closed in on her, creating a huge explosion. The cage expanded, leaving a black, burnt pokemon in the center, heavily damaged.

"I'm not… done yet… _Mirror Coat!_"

Garet's eyes widened as Jigglypuff fired a blue beam at him. He met the full force of his sword's unleash attack, except double the force. He stood there, frozen for a moment, then was blown into the wall again. He was heavily burned like Jigglypuff, but he was still able to stand. Barely.

At the same time, Samus was dodging Ivan's barrage of lightning bolts in the air. Samus was floating around, dashing around and firing away at Ivan without using her full force. However, Ivan was jumping from statue to statue speedily, dodging every shot and firing down as many lightning bolts as shots fired from Samus's arm cannon.

"That's it, I've been going easy on you lately. You're fast and all, but I'm faster," said Samus, clearly agitated. She charged her annihilator beam shot to unleash a sonic boom, but she was just a tad too slow.

"_Spark Plasma!_"

Ivan unleashed his most powerful Psyenergy. Huge bolts of lightning rained down from the ceiling again, like Destruct Ray. However, each bolt was bigger, there were more bolts, and every hit released a huge electrifying explosion, decimating the entire arena. All of them were aimed at Samus. However, when the explosions were gone, Samus was gone as well. She was in her morph ball, right at Ivan's feet.

KABOOM!

She released several blue bombs at Ivan's feet, sending him flying. She immediately unmorphed and peppered him with more power beam shots.

"Jigglypuff! Now!"

"Right! Closer your ears, Samus!"

Jigglypuff took a deep breath, then she began to sing the most beautiful melody anyone could ever hear. It was such a beautiful lullaby… Jigglypuff's voice echoed through the hall, projecting in the entire mountain. The weakened Garet and Ivan began to close their eyes, and soon fell into a deep slumber. Jigglypuff stopped singing and Samus turned to her.

"Nice job!"

"Thanks. Garet was a bit harder than I thought he would be."

"I didn't expect Ivan to be so fast. He's good competition for speed against Fox."

They both looked up the steps. "Let's go."

* * *

Fox was in a dreadlock with Jenna with their weapons. Fox swung his staff at Jenna's feet while Jenna blocked it with her own blade. Fox immediately whirled around to hit her side, but Jenna blocked that swiftly as well.

In his other hand was his blaster. Fox fired at Jenna's body, but Jenna fired fireballs to block every shot. She then shot her own fireball at Fox himself. Fox instantly turned on his own reflector to deflect it at Jenna, blowing her away into a tree.

Luigi was in combat with the earth adept, Felix. Luigi fired away long-range punches at Felix, but Felix blocked all of them with earthen barriers made of Psyenergy around him. Felix immediately raised his hand and cried, "_Quake Sphere!_"

The earth shook. Instinctively, Luigi blasted himself into the air to avoid being crushed by the earth below. He fired away several fireballs, but Felix held his sword out and deflected each one back at Luigi. Luigi absorbed his own fireballs to avoid being burned, retreating backwards to avoid being sliced apart by Felix's sword.

Felix suddenly snapped his wrist, causing the ground to quickly bounce Luigi up into the air. Luigi, who didn't have time to react, was flailing helplessly in the air. Felix immediately dashed up to Luigi and swung his sword down on Luigi's neck.

When Luigi recovered, however, he immediately drew his fire and electric sword, blocking Felix's attempt to behead him. Luigi pushed against Felix, knocking himself and Felix away from each other. While falling behind, Luigi fired several more fireballs at Felix, who blocked most of them again.

Felix raised his hand, crying, "_Stone Spire!_"

Luigi looked up to see several stone stalactites fall, about to crush him underneath. He used his feet's energy to propel himself forward, avoiding the attack and landing right in front of Felix. Luigi landed an upwards uppercut on Felix's chin, knocking him upwards. Luigi then flipped into the air and knocked Felix's body upwards again with a flip kick. Luigi then pursued his opponent by pointing his feet at the ground and blasting himself like a rocket with his kicks, finding himself right above Felix.

"_Legend!_"

Unfortunately, Luigi was just a second too late, as Felix had this one second to recover and retaliate. Felix raised his golden sword, and a golden portal appeared in the sky. A golden sword emerged from it, and fired at Luigi. Luigi blocked it with his sword, but he was blasted away into the mountain side. Another golden sword emerged and blasted itself at Luigi, who propelled himself back into the air to dodge it. A third sword shot at Luigi's head.

BAM!

Fox appeared right in front of Luigi while in the middle of combat with Jenna, activating his violet reflector and blocking the sword for Luigi. Felix landed on the ground, and Jenna jumped into the air to continue what her brother did.

Luigi also began to fall, leaving Fox and Jenna in the air. Fox blasted away at Jenna with his blaster again, but Jenna swiftly blocked each and ever one of them with her light blade.

"A match between light weapons, huh?" said Fox. "_Level Two! Brave Form!_"

Fox split his staff into two as he engaged in close-range combat with Jenna. However, even when Fox had two weapons, Jenna blocked every strike with only her one sword.

After a minute, Jenna shot her sword forward, about to stab Fox's heart. Fox blocked it with both staffs, but Jenna's other hand was free, charging fire.

"_Cycle Beam!_"

A huge beam of fire shot out, engulfing Fox in fire. He was blasted into the mountain wall like Luigi was, but he wasn't burnt into a crisp. He had his reflector turned on again, but…

"Broken… I'm lucky it even blocked that powerful attack… No more going easy, girl…"

Fox activated his staff jets, shooting forward at Jenna. Jenna swung at him, but Fox undershot intentionally; he was right below her.

BAM BAM!

He used his infamous vertical flip kick at Jenna's body, sending her flying upwards. He pursued her by blasting himself with his staff and used another flip kick. He then appeared right above Jenna and swung both staffs down at her body, sending her flying into the ground below.

BAM!

Jenna was unconscious and owned. Period.

"Luigi! Hurry up! We haven't much time!" said Fox.

"Sorry, but I'll have to hurt you a bit more…" Luigi said apologetically to Felix. There were suddenly several explosions. Luigi was moving so fast around Felix by using his ranged punches and kicks that he was almost invisible!

BAM!

Luigi finally landed a clean hit on Felix's back with a jet punch. Luigi then appeared right above Felix and landed a ranged drill kick down on Felix's stomach, releasing several explosions. After he was finished with his combo, Felix was unconscious as well.

"Geez, I hope they're not dead…" said Luigi. "I hope I didn't overdo it…"

"They're really strong, Jenna's attack destroyed my reflector," said Fox. "I mean, these reflectors are the best ones I have after all!"

"Oh well… I hope the others are doing okay right now…"

"Only one way to find out…"

Fox and Luigi nodded to each other as they ran into Mount Aleph.

* * *

"So, you've come…" said Alex. They were at the top of the mountain, on a elliptical surface.

"Please, I know what you've done the entire time," said Isaac. "While we were working our butts off lighting the lighthouses for the good of Weyard, you had to abandon us for your own selfish needs. The world doesn't need you, Alex."

"Oh, but it needs a proper ruler… And who else but the one who can conquer the Golden Sun? The one with the Endowment of Exigency?"

"What?"

Alex drew his sword. "That power… it belongs to me. You may have your life after you hand it over."

"And what guarantees my life?" asked Isaac, drawing his Sol Blade. "My answer is no."

"I thought it would come to this…" Alex sneered. "We will see who will emerge victorious! Prepare to die, you little brat!"

"I'm not about to die here," said Isaac.

The two dived at each other…


	97. Chapter 97: The Golden Sun

Hack: The Alex fight! Of course, it's not going to finish in this chapter, so look forward to it! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 97: The Golden Sun**

"Hurry up, Jigglypuff! Isaac's probably fighting Alex right now," said Samus.

"Please… I'm too slow… And I shouldn't use agility yet…" Jigglypuff panted, running up the steps. "I'm not like you…"

"Damn right, you're not. I'll go up ahead."

KABOOM!

Samus tripped, falling on her back and on top of poor Jigglypuff.

"What the hell was that?" Samus asked, standing up and not noticing the squished puffball.

"I don't… know…" Jigglypuff coughed. "Must be Isaac…"

Samus sighed. She violently grabbed Jigglypuff with her grappling beam and dashed up the steps.

_Yep… Samus is finally back to normal after that ordeal on the Halberd…_ Jigglypuff thought, smiling.

* * *

Fox and Luigi groaned. Ivan and Garet were stirring awake back in the room that Samus and Jigglypuff fought in.

"Don't tell me… We have to fight another two?" asked Fox.

"I think Jigglypuff put them to sleep…" said Luigi. "I'm not sure but…"

"Then they're weakened. Good. We can get through without much trouble," said Fox.

BAM! BAM!

Within seconds, Ivan and Garet were knocked out again.

"You know, I feel really back about beating up Ivan," said Luigi.

"Well they're controlled by Alex, another reason to kick Alex's butt."

Luigi nodded. "I have some business as well…"

* * *

Isaac dodged another blast of water from Alex. He was completely helpless; although he didn't take much damage from Alex's onslaught, Isaac could never find an opening to counter with his sword or his Psyenergy since Alex was attacking so much.

_How did he get so much Psyenergy to attack that much? After that many abilities, even Ivan would exhaust himself!_

"Tired yet? _Ice Missile!_" Alex smirked as he shot several ice missiles from the sky.

"Not yet, but are you tired?" asked Isaac, wondering if the Endowment of Exigency truly blessed Alex that much. He also dodged that attack, by the way.

"Not at all! _Deluge!_" A pillar of water engulfed Isaac, and Alex shot forward to slash at Isaac, but Isaac knocked himself into the air by creating an earthquake, dodging the slash.

_Finally, an opening!_

"_Quake Sphere!_"

Alex immediately jumped into the air to avoid being tripped.

"Ha! You finally find an opening, yet you use the weak Quake Sphere?"

"But you're open from behind now," said Isaac, who was suddenly right behind Alex. "_Ragnorok!_"

SHING!

A golden sword shot from the sky and into Alex's body. It dragged Alex with itself and impaled the ground, releasing a huge explosion of Psyenergy. Alex coughed out blood as he laid on the ground, his body impaled.

"_Ply Well!_" The wound instantly healed. "_Froth Spiral!_"

Bubbles flew out and surrounded Isaac. Isaac looked for an opening to escape, but found none, so he did the only thing he thought he could do…

BOOM!

The bubbles exploded right where Isaac was, but Isaac was gone! Alex looked around frantically, then remembered about one particular Psyenergy that earth adepts knew.

Alex instinctively jumped to the side, just as he heard, "_Mother Gaia!_" Right where he was, the earth exploded, releasing a beam of energy from the ground. Isaac emerged from the ground; he had escaped underground with the Sand Psyenergy.

"You're stronger than before, I admit that," said Alex.

"Hm, I don't recall ever fighting you," said Isaac.

"I can judge a man's strength by looks." Alex also sunk into the ground in a puddle of water. Isaac looked at the ground and was horrified; the ground was filled with water because of Alex's onslaught of attacks.

The entire ground turned into ice, and Isaac slipped on the spot. He rolled away to avoid being stabbed by an ice stalactite shooting from the icy floor and stood on the spot.

"_Diamond Berg!_"

CRASH!

The familiar huge iceberg fell on top of Isaac, encasing him in ice. Alex shot forward and began to slice off pieces and pieces of ice, also causing Isaac to feel parts of his body being cut off in an illusion. Blood spurted out and Alex gave one final strike, sending Isaac sliding across the ice, smearing blood all over.

"_Potent Cure!_"

Although not as effective as Alex's Ply, Isaac's cure washed away his blood and some of the pain induced from the attack, closing most of his wounds. Isaac immediately went back to the defensive as Alex sent forth another onslaught of water Psyenergy.

"_Ice Missile!_ Trust me, you will never outdo my Psyenergy. My Psyenergy is unlimited!" cried Alex. "_Diamond Berg! Glacier! Deluge! Froth Spiral! Megacool!_"

Isaac dodged a barrage of icicles by shooting into the air, moving to the side to avoid an iceberg. He landed and rolled away to dodge falling ice, swung his sword to blow away flying bubbles, and jumped again to avoid sharp pieces of ice shooting from the ground.

"Isaac!"

Samus and Jigglypuff finally arrived at the scene, and Isaac smiled.

"Hey! What happened?"

"They're asleep, your friends are fine," said Jigglypuff.

"More importantly, we have to kick some adept's ass," said Samus.

"So the tables have turned, huh?" said Alex. "Three versus one… Or maybe not… _Glacier!_"

Jigglypuff and Samus fired off flame attacks, piercing through the ice and at Alex. Alex created a water barrier around him to block off the fire, but Isaac was jumping up at him to finally attack him at close range.

CLANG!

Alex blocked Isaac's Sol Blade with his own Murasame, the most powerful water sword. Alex held his other hand out and shot a piece of ice at Isaac, but Isaac swerved around and struck Alex in the waist. Alex healed himself in an instant and returned a swing at Isaac, who blocked it.

Alex flew out of the way to avoid a flamethrower from Jigglypuff and Samus. He then dove down at Jigglypuff. The pokemon brought her fist back, cried, "_Meteor Mash!_" and shot her steel fist forward at Alex's face.

CLANG!

Alex blocked the punch with his sword without using much effort. Samus fired a super missile at his side, but Alex blew it away with water shooting from his other hand. Isaac came up from behind to slash him, but Alex suddenly sank into the ground!

"Where is he?" cried Jigglypuff.

Alex suddenly emerged from the water right behind Isaac, his blade at Isaac's throat.

"Are you ready to die?" asked Alex.

KZAP!

Alex was slammed in the back with an electric punch, delivered by Luigi from a mile away. Fox dashed at Alex, who was caught by surprise, and sent forth a volley of fireballs into Alex's face. Alex was sent sliding across the ice, healing himself.

"A little late, are we?" asked Fox.

"Don't worry, you're not as late as Captain Falcon, wherever that idiot is," said Samus.

"You two have come… This means that I'm going to be overpowered at this rate," said Alex.

"You're no match for us in your current form, Alex," said Luigi. "Bring out your Ren Kiu, you know you don't stand a chance without it."

"Ha… Impeccable brats. _Ren Kiu, Ulysses!!_"

Alex's body glowed white. The glow was much brighter than when Luigi fought him back on the Halberd. Alex was clothed in his familiar robes, and he had several cards to fight with this time.

"That's his Ren Kiu?" asked Fox. "Doesn't seem physically intimidating, but he can probably use very powerful Psyenergy."

"_Deluge!_"

Everyone dashed out of the way to avoid a humongous column of water drowning them.

"If this is a battle with our strongest forms, then I'll go ahead and hold nothing back as well," said Samus. "_Ren Kiu!!_"

"Agreed. _Level Two… Brave Form!!_" cried Fox.

"_Agility… Swords Dance!!_"

Samus fired a phazon missile at Alex. It exploded right in front of him, but Alex teleported out of the way and far away from the group of five in the sky.

Fox and Jigglypuff appeared right next to Alex, about to deliver devastating blows on Alex's head, but Alex surrounded himself with flying bubbles, blowing them both away. He then rained all of the bubbles down on the peak of the mountain, forcing the smashers and Isaac to move on the defensive by dodging them.

In the midst of dodging bubbles, Luigi found an opening in the raining bubbles and pointed his hand at Alex. He fired another electric punch at Alex, but Alex deflected it with a water barrier. The bubbles stopped, but the protagonists dodged every one of them.

Alex prepared another attack. "_Glacier!!_"

This time, a huge sheet of ice capable of covering the entire mountain was about to fall on the smashers.

"Shit, how the hell do you dodge something as big as that?" cried Fox.

"Simple. Just burn it through," said Luigi as he began to fire streams of fire.

Samus, Fox, and Jigglypuff followed suit, but the ice was so strong that it didn't seem to do anything!

"_Move!_" Isaac cried. A ghostly hand appeared in the air and blocked the sheet of ice. The hand then turned around and shoved the ice away from the peak, from the village, and into the cliffs below.

"We still have more…" groaned Luigi.

Several icicles began to rain from the sky, and there were many icicles than there were bubbles before.

"My scanners show that the ice is so cold… Not even volcanic magma will dent it…" said Samus. "We can't burn it down."

"Really? But our combined fire is hotter than volcanic magma," said Fox.

"No, she's right," said Isaac. "The ice is too cold. Let me handle this."

He closed his eyes. Just before the icicles struck the smashers, Isaac cried, "_Cloak!_" Everyone became invisible and transparent for a split second, just long enough for the ice to pass through.

Alex blinked in surprise. Suddenly, Samus was right beside him again, spinning in a somersault.

"Hyper Screw Attack!"

The blue energy radiating from her body struck Alex and sent him flying away. Samus stopped spinning in the air, and Alex regained his posture, healing himself. He held his right hand out to block several fire attacks from Fox and Jigglypuff, electric attacks from Luigi, and flying pieces of gravel from Isaac, all with just a single water barrier.

"See the power that I have obtained from the Golden Sun! _Move!_"

Alex opened his palm and pointed it at Samus. Samus was about to teleport out of the way, but Alex was too fast. An invisible force blasted Samus miles away from the mountain and out of sight. Yes, Alex's move actually does that much damage.

"Whoa…" said Fox. "What just… happened…"

"_Deluge!!_"

"_Resist!_"

CLANG!

The columns of water were blocked by a violet shield radiating below the smashers, created by Ivan, who was standing at the steps. He was accompanied by Garet, Felix, and Jenna, who were all conscious now.

"Ivan! Garet! Felix! Jenna!" Isaac cried.

Felix stepped forward. "Ivan told us about your friends. We can't let Alex get away with this."

"Damn straight!" said Garet. "After you duped us those years ago, I'm going to beat you up!"

"What an empty threat…" Jenna sighed.

"You're outnumbered now, Alex," said Ivan. "With us five adepts and the four others, you're outnumbered nine to one."

"Outnumbered, possibly, but overpowered by you? Nonsense! _Rising Dragon!_"

Alex held his sword out and three water dragons seeped out from it, shooting down at the fighters.

Luigi was looking around. "Geez, where the heck is Captain Falcon??"

Samus appeared right beside him, recovering from the previous blast. "No freaking clue!"

SPLISH!

They both jumped out of the way as one of the dragons struck the ground and began chasing them. Another dragon was preoccupied with Jenna and Isaac, who were both speedy enough.

"You think you can block it, Jigglypuff?" asked Ivan.

"Maybe with your help," said Jigglypuff.

"_Resist!_"

"_Light Screen!_"

Two combined barriers appeared in front of Ivan, Jigglypuff, Garet, Felix, and Fox, barely blocking the dragon. It split into several streams of water, flooding the area around them.

While Ivan and Jigglypuff were blocking the attack, Garet released a stream of fire to pierce through the stream of water, creating an opening at Alex. Fox and Felix both ran through the hole, Fox reaching Alex first.

CLANG!

Alex blocked Fox's staff. Before Fox could react, Alex swatted Fox away like a rat by using move with his other hand. Felix was just about to attack Alex when Fox kicked Felix towards Alex, moving him into closer range.

"_Odyssey!!_"

A golden sword pierced Alex, first from above, then below. Felix wielded a huge sword of energy and swung it through Alex. Alex yelled in pain as Felix dealt a final blow with a horizontal slash.

"_Pure Ply!_" Alex healed most of his wounds, but the ability was no longer able to heal all of his wounds.

The others had their hands free from the water dragons now.

"Ivan! Jenna!" Isaac cried out. "You both need to summon it!"

"Don't tell me…" Jenna was smirking. Ivan, however, was worried.

"You know what could happen if we summon Catastrophe," he said.

"Watch out!" Luigi called out. "Alex is about to summon something!" He recognized the watery glow that Alex gave off when he fought Luigi.

"Summon… _Azul!!_"

"Shit! Get away from the center!" Luigi called out. Everyone got out of the way, but Garet was too slow. The moment he dived away, a column of water caught him in the center. He was dragged into the air by a water serpent, but just before he was about to be dragged into illusionary water to feel his body implode…

"_Falcon… PUUUUNCH!!_"

BOOOOM!

Azul's body disintegrated as Captain Falcon's punch blew through its head. Garet was freed and he landed on the ground, shaken by the attack.

BAM!

Alex, who did not expect the most powerful water creature to be defeated by a punch, took a blow in the face by the speedy Captain Falcon. Falcon chased him, kicking him in the stomach and following it up with an uppercut. Finally, Captain Falcon was right in front of Alex.

"Falcon… KNEEE!!"

KABOOM!

Captain Falcon kneed Alex in the stomach with all of his power. Alex was blown away in the sky, blood spewing everywhere. He landed on the top of the mountain with the smashers and adepts.

"Missed me? Couldn't miss a chance for a sexy entrance!" said Captain Falcon.

"This isn't the time, you pervert!" said Samus. "Look!"

Alex was above them again, his body glowing white. "The power of the Golden Sun… I have three quarters of it… I call upon you… Unleash Alchemy!!"


	98. Chapter 98: The Invincible Barrier?

Hack: The second chapter of the big Alex fight! Will he die? Will he survive? Will the smashers and adepts prevail? Read this chapter to find out! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 98: The Invincible Barrier?**

"This is it… the power I've been looking forward to unleash in Weyard…" Alex closed a fist, smiling. "This is excellent! Beautiful! I am unstoppable!"

"Unstoppable? We'll see about that," said Fox.

Everyone except Ivan and Jenna jumped forward to attack Alex.

Luigi literally threw his lightning sword at Alex.

Jigglypuff fired a flamethrower attack.

Fox shot a barrage of attacks from his blaster.

Samus released another barrage of super phazon missiles.

Captain Falcon was up at Alex and about to unleash another falcon knee.

Isaac used his sword to cast Megiddo, firing down a huge meteor down on Alex's body.

Felix used Mother Gaia, causing a beam of energy from the earth to be ready to engulf Alex.

Garet focused his energy into containing all of the heat around Alex, then caused that area to implode with fire.

KABOOM!!

Alex was completely safe. A safe barrier of water and ice was covering him. It was so strong, it barely faltered from all of the attacks that struck him.

"What? How could he?" gasped Isaac.

"No clue… He has an ice and water barrier around himself," said Samus.

"Then we have to destroy it!" cried Garet. "Let's do all of that again!"

Felix rolled his eyes. "If the barrier didn't dent after all of those attacks, do you think we can do anything with our current attacks? No! How can you be so dense, Garet?"

"Hm…" Fox was looking at his staff. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Luigi?"

"Oh, back on Air's Rock?" asked Luigi.

"Yeah. All of the attacks that hit Alex were elemental, save for Captain Falcon's knee. If we combine…"

"Yeah, it might work!"

"Let's go then! _Level Three… Mind Form!!_"

Luigi's arms began to cackle with electricity and Fox transformed into his third form.

"Jigglypuff, give me a boost," said Luigi.

"_Agility! Baton Pass!_"

"Are you ready, Ivan? Jenna?" asked Isaac.

"Getting Catastrophe ready takes a long time, you know," said Jenna impatiently.

"We can't do anything in our state. You have to protect us at all costs, Isaac," said Ivan. "Give us another ten… fifteen minutes."

"_Grand Gaia!_"

It was neither Isaac nor Felix who cried this earth move. The Mercury Adept, Alex, used Venus Psyenergy with his new powers to open up the center of the peak.

KABOOM!!

When Jigglypuff appeared from her baton pass ability, she was at the center. Felix was there too.

BAM!

They were both sent flying away, heavily injured from that one attack. Felix was completely unconscious, landing beside Ivan and Jenna. Jigglypuff, on the brink of unconsciousness, whispered, "_Mirror… Coat…_"

KABOOM!!

Alex was engulfed with the power of his own Grand Gaia, doubled in power. His barrier held still, but it began to crack slightly.

"Ha! It doesn't matter! I can use all of the elements! Two down, eight to go!" said Alex.

Fox and Luigi took this moment to attack. Fox and Luigi instantly appeared in front of Alex, Luigi also holding Fox's two staffs.

"Got it!" cried Luigi as he released his hands.

"_Volt Drive!!_" Fox cried, releasing his charged staffs at Alex. The two staffs both stuck against Alex's barrier, releasing millions upon millions of volts into it.

The water around the barrier disappeared instantly, but the ice was still held intact.

"You! _Move!_" Alex angrily cried.

"Fox!!" Luigi cried, who was falling behind, but it was too late. Fox, while he was recovering from the powerful blow he dealt against the shield, was blasted into the ground from Alex's move ability. He too fell unconscious like Felix and Jigglypuff.

"Now to take care of the summoners…" said Alex.

"Shit! It's only been three minutes!" cried Samus as she looked at Ivan and Jenna, who were charging their djinns to prepare. They needed another seven minutes for the summon to be ready.

"_Megaco-_"

CLANG!

Alex's spell was interrupted by a speedy punch from Captain Falcon.

"It's you… You're the one who hit me before I transformed," said Alex.

"And I've learned a few new sexy tricks from my fight back with Wolf!"

"So you defeated Wolf? I'm far passed his level now, though! _Move!_"

Captain Falcon was too fast for Alex though, and Alex missed. Captain Falcon appeared right behind the levitating Alex and released a bullet punch. The punch clanged harmlessly off of the barrier, leaving Alex unharmed.

"You can't defeat my barrier! It's been fully powered by Alchemy!"

"If phazon doesn't melt ice… _Sunburst!!_" Samus cried. She charged her arm cannon and fired a huge sphere that looked like a sun. The light erupting from it blinded all others that looked into it. The heat around it caused even Alex and Captain Falcon to sweat.

It was basically a miniature sun.

"A sun? This should be entertaining!" said Alex. "_Delu-_"

"Not on my fucking watch!" cried Falcon, punching Alex's barrier again to interrupt him.

"You're becoming an annoying pest, aren't you?" said Alex, eyeing the slowly approaching sun. "_Move!_"

He missed again. Instead, in front of him appeared Luigi and Isaac. Isaac's sword was glowing red…

"_Odyssey!!_"

The three golden swords pierced through Alex's barrier and Isaac ran his fiery sword through again, but it was no use. The barrier deflected the attack again, barely dented.

The sun was centimeters away now, causing everyone nearby to sweat. The sun was also radiating blue; apparently it had phazon infused in it.

Alex was about to move out of the way, but shadow hands emerging all the way from the ground grabbed the barrier around him, pinning him in the air. Captain Falcon, Luigi, and Isaac dropped to the ground to see the sun exploding on Alex.

KABOOM!!

The ice barrier around Alex was steaming a little, but it was still strong.

"What? Even my sunburst didn't destroy it?" gasped Samus.

"No, but at least it did something," said Luigi. "Unlike Captain Falcon's punches and Isaac's Odyssey."

"It's time to bring this up another level, you little brats!" said Alex. "_Spark Plasma!!_"

"What? Since when could a water adept use wind Psyenergy?" cried Luigi.

"Ever since he's been using the Golden Sun," replied Isaac. "Didn't you notice when he used Venus psyenergy?"

Huge lightning bolts rained down from the heavens and onto the smashers and adepts below. Luigi, Falcon, Samus, and Isaac dodged all of them, but Alex saw Ivan and Jenna and directed the bolts at them…

Ivan looked up. "Shit! We can't move!"

"Do we abort the mission?" asked Jenna.

"No way."

"Good idea," said Garet, who was right above them. "_Unleash Flash!!_"

A fire creature appeared on Garet's shoulder and created a fiery barrier around Ivan, Jenna, and him, dramatically reducing the damage done by the attack. They were still slightly shocked, but it stopped most of the attack.

"You…" Alex growled. "The djinn are truly becoming a nuisance, especially since I do not possess any of them…"

"That's great! _Unleash Forge!!_"

Another red creature popped on Garet's shoulder and all of the smashers and adepts glowed red.

"Hey, I feel stronger," said Luigi.

"Of course. Forge's ability is to boost our party's physical attack power," said Isaac.

"Sounds like something Jigglypuff would do," said Samus.

"But as a result of unleashing djinn, you can summon, but you also grow weaker and slower!" said Alex. "As I shall now demonstrate. _Diamond Berg!!_"

"Shit!"

Garet was about to dive out of the way of the huge iceberg about to fall on top of him, but he was too slow, much slower than before.

Alex appeared right in front of Garet, about to hack away, but Isaac stood in between and blocked Alex's sword. He was able to stand up against Alex with his new power from the djinn release.

"You do know that I possess the ability to use all Psyenergy, right?" said Alex. "So your boost in attack power… is insignificant! _Break!_"

Isaac's power returned to normal. So did everyone else's. Alex shoved Isaac out of the way like a fly, and struck through the ice, knocking Garet unconscious.

"Garet!!" everyone cried.

Luigi was about to step forward to attack Alex, but he remembered that he lost the agility boost that Jigglypuff gave him. He settled for another fire punch at Alex's face, but the barrier still held strong.

Samus, Captain Falcon, and Isaac came up next, attacking Alex with their more powerful moves.

"_Sonic Boom!_"

"_Falcon Punch!_"

"_Odyssey!_"

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

All of the attacks bounced harmlessly off of Alex's barrier, and Alex smirked.

"Isaac! You have to break that barrier before we summon Catastrophe, or else these risks of destroying the world will be in vain!" cried Ivan, setting more and more djinn in preparation for the summon.

"I have a way," said Luigi as he blasted himself away from a move attack.

"Really? Give it to us," said Isaac.

"On this place called Air's Rock, I got an abnormal amount of electricity stored in my body right now," explained Luigi.

"_Ice Missile! Deluge! Glacier!_"

Isaac _moved_ away the sheet of ice using some of his effort. They were all dodging the columns of water and falling icicles. Isaac took a cut in the side as he was losing energy.

"Ok, I'm starting to run out of energy, even cure won't help too much… But…"

"Hey, I have a better idea than that, Luigi!" said Captain Falcon. "Alex has an ice shield! I have some sexy power in me that I got!"

"Really?" Samus raised an eyebrow. Her shoulder pad was dented from an icicle she failed to dodge.

"Well despite someone's intelligence, if this so-called power uses fire and is more powerful than all of the electricity I can contain…" said Luigi. "Let's try it. Fire melts ice, so it should work better." He flinched as another icicle cut him in the side.

"Be careful, though, one direct hit from his Psyenergy will knock you out instantly," said Isaac, holding a barrier to protect Ivan and Jenna.

Captain Falcon put his fist into his other hand. "Leave it to me. I'll finish this in a second."

Luigi, Samus, and Falcon got together briefly, talked for one second for an attack plan, then dodged a huge ice missile. They were all smiling.

"Ivan, Jenna, how much time do you need?" asked Isaac.

"Three minutes!" cried Ivan.

"We can't hold back Catastrophe when it's ready," said Jenna. "You have to destroy that barrier."

"Pah! This barrier is made of pure alchemy, directly from the Golden Sun!" said Alex. "It is invincible! I've put all of my power into it!"

Samus stood her guard, swiftly side-stepping ice missiles. Luigi and Captain Falcon ran to the other side together.

"I'm not so sure about this, Captain Falcon…" Luigi said nervously.

"Come on! Get ready!" Falcon grabbed Luigi's hand and cried, "_Falcon Dash!_" They both instantly disappeared.

"Here I come, Alex! _Phazon Beam!!_" Samus shot a huge blue laser of phazon at Alex.

"Ha! _Heat Wave!_" Alex retaliated by firing a huge beam of fire back at Samus to counter the beam of phazon. His beam was beating out Samus's, however.

KABOOM!

Alex was knocked away by some invisible blast. His barrier held intact, but he was shaken by it, as he was actually moved by it! As a result, he lost control of his heat wave and the phazon beam came at him. Alex dodged by flying to the side, but…

KABOOM!!

Another loud bang against his barrier. Alex looked around and he saw Falcon holding Luigi up.

"Combo move! _Shadow Green Missile!!_" they both cried.

Captain Falcon held Luigi horizontally, then he used a shadow punch forward, except instead of punching, he shot Luigi forward. At the same time, Luigi released an invisible green missile from his powers. With the combined speed of the shadow and the power of Luigi's attack, clearly Alex was blown away by this attack.

KABOOM!!

Alex was sent flying miles, although he wasn't injured.

"That didn't work?" gasped Samus.

Alex came flying up again. "I'm surprised you can even budge me. I suppose I underestimated you… _Thunder Mine!_"

Alex fired a fast ball of electricity at Isaac, who was guarding Ivan and Jenna. They had one minute left.

Isaac was about to defend himself, but Luigi immediately shot in between them, holding his yellow cape.

FWIFF!

He swung it with all his might, barely deflecting the thunder ball back at Alex. Alex moved out of the way, feeling the breeze from the electric explosion behind him.

Again, Luigi instantly disappeared with the help of Captain Falcon. Samus was right in front of Alex, about to attack again.

"_Hyper Screw Attack!_"

CLANG!

Alex deflected the powerful screw attack with his sword and barrier, knocking Samus aside. Samus flipped back in the air and released a long stream of fire.

"_Hyper Flamethrower!_"

The fire beam had remnants of phazon in it, making it shine more violently and brightly. Alex, however, smirked.

"Now that I have control of all four elements of Psyenergy, do you not think that I can't control this attack?" he asked.

Before Samus could reply, Alex swung his hand, causing the beam of fire to curve away from him. At the same time, he felt his barrier shake violently from another Shadow Green Missile.

"Almost done! Just give us another ten seconds!" cried Ivan.

While the smashers were keeping Alex busy, Isaac was using some of his leftover energy to tend to the fallen fighters: Jigglypuff, Fox, Felix, and Garet.

"_Potent Cure!_" he cried. Felix stirred awake, exhausted.

"…Ugh… what happened…" he groaned.

"You were knocked out. Help me get these guys awake, Felix," said Isaac. "I'm almost sapped… _Revive!_"

Felix nodded as well, casting Revive and Potent Cure to help the unconscious.

Meanwhile, Alex was smirking. "Ha! Only ten seconds left! But your Catastrophe will be useless because my barrier will be stronger than ever!" He glowed blue, making his barrier even stronger.

Captain Falcon smirked, but Luigi and Samus looked worried.

"So that was your plan?" asked Samus. "It didn't exactly work, did it?"

"No time to explain, man! Let me handle the rest, just keep him busy!" cried Falcon as he ran off.

"Fine!" Samus replied angrily. "I don't know what the point is, but…"

"Just do as he says!" said Luigi. "You never know!"

"Gr… _Phazon Beam!_" Samus fired at Alex, but Alex countered with his own beam of fire.

"I can't hold on to Catastrophe any longer! Destroy it!" cried Ivan.

Luigi dashed up to the slightly distracted Alex and took out his electric sword, swinging it down. The ice barrier was so strong, however, that when Luigi struck it, he was blown away!

"Luigi!" Samus cried.

Another few seconds left…

"Got ya! **BLAZING FALCON…**"

Alex whirled around, about to counter, but it was too late.

"**PUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!**"

Falcon let loose a falcon punch with much more blazing fire behind it. He struck the icy barrier around Alex, and it instantly shattered. Captain Falcon's punch blasted into Alex's chest, singeing every inch of his skin. Alex yelled in pain, but he moved out of the way to avoid the full blunt of the attack. However…

"_The embodiment of destruction…_" chanted Ivan and Jenna. "_Master of Jupiter and Mars… We call upon thee… Come, Catastrophe!!_"

Alex was stuck in an illusionary world. He was surrounded by trees and water. "What? No! My barrier! It's…"

A huge black-armored warrior, fully equipped with a golden shield, a red-horned helm, and a monstrous sword pointed down, was levitating directly above Alex. It easily dwarfed the entire island, its foot several times larger than Alex. It suddenly began to storm, lightning bolts striking every part of the land. Alex dodged every bolt.

The soldier pointed its shield and sword directly down at Alex, creating a violet energy ball surrounded by a pyramidal electric cage. It fired the attack down directly on Alex. Alex could not do anything but take the entire attack.

KABOOM!!

Alex was shocked by several trillion volts of energy, plowing through tree after tree. Out of the huge blast came a violet electric dragon, and its mouth grabbed onto Alex's flailing body. It chomped down as hard as it could…

KABOOM!!

Another huge explosion ensued. Alex was shocked by twice as more than before. He could no longer move. His body was numb. He was finished in this illusion.

But he was finished only in that illusion.

After the summon was completed, Alex was lying on the ground, panting hard. Violet sparks came out from several parts of his body, and he was almost paralyzed.

"If only… If only I didn't… use my energy…" he panted.

"To strengthen that shield?" asked Captain Falcon. "I used my combo move to make you feel insecure, so you would eventually strengthen your shield. I was confident that my final falcon punch could rape your damn shield. I risked everything with it, but since you were so scared you had to strengthen your damn shield, you used up more energy. My sweet plan worked. I combined the fire I got from that weird mountain, Magma Rock or something? I combined it with my punch to make its power tenfold."

Ivan and Jenna were lying on the ground, unconscious. Isaac smiled.

"It's no use. They're out of energy from that huge summon," explained Isaac. "Catastrophe is, after all, the most powerful Jupiter summon."

"Ugh…" Fox stirred awake. "So… he's… done…?"

"That's good…" said Jigglypuff.

"Damn straight!" cried Garet. "He's no match for any of us!"

"I'm not… done yet…" muttered Alex.

"Oh really?" asked Samus. "But you're lying down there, almost dead, and almost paralyzed."

"No… For you have yet to see… my full potential… The combined power…"

"…Don't tell me…" said Luigi.

"The Golden Sun and the Endowment of Exigency… I shall combine both…" His body glowed white again as he released his Ren Kiu again. His body was completely white, pulsing with Psyenergy within every inch of his body. He was bringing his current form into the next stage…

"_Hyper Ren Kiu…"_

Alex's clothes were blood red. His entire body was now simply skeletal remains. He no longer had skin on his body. His long skeletal fingers were thin and brittle, yet his skeletal body gave the impression of an invincible undead being.

"_CHARON!! Boatsman of the River Styx! I TAKE UPON THEE FORM!! MASTER OF VENUS!_"

"…When the hell is he gonna die?" asked Samus, sighing. I bet you readers are thinking the same thing.


	99. Chapter 99: Judgement vs Charon

Hack:

Hack: I don't own the parody at the beginning of this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 99: Judgement vs. Charon**

Alex was flying up in the air, giving a hellish aura. The sky turned completely blood red, as if the world plunged into hell. Literally.

"This is… not good…" said Isaac.

Samus took her scanner and scanned Alex. She was restraining from crying out, "IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!" and instead, said, "His level… It's past twenty thousand…"

"WHAT? TWENTY THOUSAND??" cried Captain Falcon.

"That's… twice as powerful than Metaknight!" said Fox.

"And we barely defeated his previous form…" said Luigi.

"_GRAND GAIA!!_" cried Alex.

The center of the peak opened up, and everyone jumped away. However, the beam emerging from it was so much bigger than before, that it engulfed everything on the peak, including the smashers and the adepts!"

KABOOM!!

They were all sent flying in various directions. Everyone landed on their backs on the mountain, and Alex was reeling back for another attack.

"Ugh… Thank god Ivan used Resist…" groaned Isaac. "Otherwise we'd all be dead…"

"That attack was no joke…" said Felix. "We can't let our guard down."

"What do you think we've been doing the entire time?" asked Jenna.

"How about another shadow green missile?" asked Samus.

"No, even though he probably doesn't have a barrier this time…" said Luigi. "I highly doubt it'll do much right now."

"_SPARK PLASMA!!_"

The sky began to rain lightning bolts. These were much bigger than your normal spark plasma, however. Every time a bolt struck the ground, an explosion larger than that of a mother gaia was created. Luigi jumped up into the sky, holding his hands out.

KZAP!!

In his attempt to take in the electricity, Luigi was able to last a few seconds, protecting everyone from the bolts. He was toasted afterwards, falling unconscious, but these few crucial seconds gave everyone else time to regroup and plan.

"I'll hold it!" said Fox. "Ivan! Can you help me?"

"Of course! _Ward!_" Ivan cried, giving Fox a little protection. Fox jumped above everyone, holding his staff up and countering the bolts with his own flow of electricity from the staff. Samus helped by firing a huge beam of electricity with her wave beam.

"Ok, so, Charon… what element is it?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Mostly earth, but a little wind. He has no weakness," said Isaac. "Our best bet is more electricity, since he's more earth elemental, but he can also resist it since he's part Jupiter."

"How about fire?" asked Samus, still using all of her energy to help Fox. "He's a water adept, so…"

"No. By transforming into Charon," answered Ivan. "he completely lost his Mercury affinity. He can still use water and fire Psyenergy, but they won't be as deadly as his earth and wind Psyenergy. So it's a question of attacking his weakness, which he also resists, or attacking with a neutral element. However…"

"Ivan! You're too analytical!" Jenna yelled. "Ok, our best bet is another Catastrophe, but that would take hours to summon, and Ivan is exhausted, so he can't summon again."

"Iris?" asked Felix.

"What's Iris this time? Can it stand up to Charon?" asked Jigglypuff.

"It's the most powerful summon," answered Isaac. "Problem is, it's the _only_ summon more powerful than Charon, and I have a feeling that Alex is more powerful than the average Charon summon. Plus, we need nine fire djinn set for summoning. Jenna's are recovering from summoning Catastrophe, and Garet's are also recovering from being used before."

"Great. Just great," said Garet.

The barrage of electricity stopped. Fox and Samus were finally given a second of a break from blocking the attack, but the skeletal Alex appeared right in the midst of them.

"So… Let's see the true might of the physical power of Charon!" said Alex.

Everyone whirled around to look at him, but he instantly disappeared again.

SLASH!

Garet grunted as he was instantly taken out by a stab in the chest.

"GARET!!" the adepts cried.

SLASH!

Jenna was also taken out. By then, everyone knew that Alex suddenly gained a huge outburst of speed, so fast that most of them couldn't see him.

"Do I sense a little déjà vu, here?" asked Fox.

"I remember when we fought Metaknight for the first time, we all got owned like this," said Captain Falcon.

"Not this time!" said Samus.

CLANG!

Fox brought his staff behind him to block Alex's sword. He swung it around in retaliation, but Alex disappeared again.

"Man, he's fast, even for me!" said Falcon.

"No kidding…" said Isaac. "_Quake!_"

He caused the ground behind him to bounce, tripping Alex, but Alex instantly disappeared again.

"Ha! Do you smashers seriously believe you can stand up against me? I am faster than Wolf now! I am more accurate than Metaknight! I have more technique than Black Shadow! I am the strongest being alive! _Thunder Mine!_"

A lightning ball came out of nowhere at Ivan, who swiftly dodged to the side. Behind him, Fox turned on his reflector to deflect it, but while it was reflected, his reflector was destroyed for the millionth time.

Captain Falcon, the only one able to perfectly track Alex's movements, brought his hand back, grabbing Alex's head and smashing it to the ground. However, Alex instantly reacted by bringing his legs back and kicking Captain Falcon's head, blowing him away.

Jigglypuff quickly thought of an idea. "Falcon!" she cried. "The entire floor… You can use it, right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! It's all dark since we're all technically in hell!" said Falcon.

"Great!"

Isaac blocked a slash with his own blade, but almost knocked away. The next second, he used move, targeting right behind Felix. He caught Alex, who was about to stab Felix. Felix whirled around with his sword ready…

"Ugh!" Alex grunted. He was clung to the ground by several shadow arms, thanks to Captain Falcon.

"_Odyssey!_" both Felix and Isaac cried. The golden blades fell on top of Alex's skeletal body, piercing through it. They both ran their sword through the defenseless Alex, stabbing his chest.

However, Alex didn't flinch!

"You're both too weak," he said. "You lack proper power."

"How about this for a change, then?" asked Fox. "_Super Quake!_"

He slammed one end of his staff into Alex's chest, causing him to scream in pain. Isaac and Felix immediately flipped out of the way of the huge quake that ensued from Fox's staff.

"_Hyper Missile!_"

Fox boosted his staff from Alex's trapped body, burning Alex in the process, and sending himself flying upwards. A blue missile came from Samus's cannon and engulfed Alex with phazon. Alex screamed in pain again from the powerful attack.

"Ivan, can you create dark clouds?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Yeah, but… I can't do much else… I'm going to be out soon…" said Ivan.

"Do it!"

Ivan created thunderclouds that didn't rain thunder, but the entire area was engulfed in darkness.

"Jigglypuff, what are you doing?" asked Fox. "I can't see a thing!"

"Neither can I," said Felix.

"Nor I," answered Isaac.

"Sit back and relax," said Jigglypuff. "Hold him down as hard as you can, Captain Falcon!"

But too late, Alex broke out of Falcon's shadow grasp, and he instantly took out Felix with one more sword swipe before it became completely pitch black.

"_Ice Missile!_"

Ice began to fall, but Samus pointed her arm cannon up and let loose a huge stream of fire. However, the ice didn't melt! Again!

"Ugh! This is fucking annoying!" said Samus as she dodged the ice missile.

"_U-Turn!_" Jigglypuff cried. She jumped forward, hitting Alex in the pure darkness, and coming back before he can retaliate.

"Ugh… you… _Deluge!_"

He completely missed. Everyone was out of his range.

"_U-Turn!_" Jigglypuff attacked again. Alex, knowing what to expect, decided to attack her right when she attempts to strike him, but she was faking her attack.

"Psych…"

BAM! REST'D!

Alex's body was on fire as he was sent flying up. Another Jigglypuff was there, waiting for him.

REST'D!

Falcon, now having an idea of what was going on, followed the sound of the previous rest attack, getting ready to pursue Alex.

REST'D! A third Jigglypuff struck Alex.

REST'D! A fourth…

BAM!

Captain Falcon slammed his feet into Alex's body, sending him plowing down into the ground. He held a fist, pinning Alex down with shadow arms.

"No…"

Over twenty Jigglypuffs jumped on top of Alex…

REST'D TIMES TWENTY!

"I'm sorry, but that body… was a fake," said Alex. The body that was attacked disappeared into water. "You're not the only one who can create clones, you little balloon. Do you sincerely believe that I would leave myself that open?"

Ivan quickly whirled around, but Alex was too fast. He stabbed him in the chest again.

"IVAN!!" Isaac cried. He rushed to Ivan's side, using his healing Psyenergy, but Ivan would not wake up.

"Isaac, you idiot! Get back up!" said Samus, firing phazon at Alex and missing.

Captain Falcon pursued Alex again with his top speed, reaching Alex in time, but Alex fired several icicles behind him, stabbing Captain Falcon in several parts of the body.

Isaac solemnly stood up, pointing his sword at Alex. The darkness from the dark clouds were clearing away because of Ivan's unconsciousness. There was an evil shadow under his eyes.

"No… I'm not going to let you hurt anyone anymore, Alex…" said Isaac. His body glowed yellow for a moment. "For I have the power of the Golden Sun…"

"What?" said Alex.

Isaac raised his Sol Blade, which was blazing yellow with the power of the earth. "Alex, I'm going to take you down right here, right now."

"HA! You only have a fourth of the Golden Sun, yet you believe you can defeat me?"

"Maybe… _Transform…_" His body turned white. "_The Might of Apocalypse… I take upon thee form… JUDGEMENT!!_"

"Whoa!!" The smashers cried, shielding their eyes. The other adepts were still unconscious.

Isaac reappeared in shining blue armor, fully equipped with a helmet with red horns, the Sol Blade in his right hand, and a golden cannon in the shape of a lion's head on his other hand. He had the white wings of an angel.

Isaac had transformed into the powerful earth summon, Judgement.

"Ha! The god of the underworld versus the commander of earth!" said Alex. "Clearly, since Charon uses twice as many more djinn to summon than Judgement… You can't possibly defeat me!"

"We're not going to let you win!" said Fox.

"No, we're going to stop you here," said Jigglypuff.

"No, we should leave Isaac alone," said Samus, using her scanner.

"Huh? Why? Isaac's going to be beaten!" said Captain Falcon.

"Their powers are beyond our level right now," explained Samus. "Isaac's power level goes past twenty thousand, just like Alex's. We might as well just get out of the way."

"But it's just as Alex said, without our help, Isaac can't beat him," said Fox.

"He has a chance… thanks to Jigglypuff," said Samus.

"…_Baton Pass!_" cried Jigglypuff.

"Oh! Good thinking!" said Captain Falcon. "He's…"

"Stronger, faster, and more durable now," said Jigglypuff. "I think with my agility, swords dance, and amnesia boosts, Isaac… he can stand a chance now."

"I really don't like this…" said Fox. "But if we seriously can't do much about it… I might as well not get in the way."

"I'm going to go!" said Falcon.

"No! Remember, against Ashnard?" said Samus. "You didn't have any affiliated powers to counter Ashnard's medallion! Do you seriously think you can damage Alex at this point with both the Golden Sun and the Endowment of Exigency? Even I'm skeptical about whether even I can damage him!"

"But Isaac only has the Golden Sun!" replied Falcon.

"I think…" said Fox. "It may be because Alex is drawing more power from the Golden Sun rather than the Endowment of Exigency… That's why Isaac has a chance, because he has the last part of the Golden Sun to counter Alex's power."

"Geez, this is all so complicated…" muttered Falcon.

"Even I don't really get it well…" said Jigglypuff.

CLANG!

Isaac's sword clashed with Alex's bloody sword. They were in a heated sword fight, each about equally matched. With every slash Isaac angrily threw at Alex, Alex quickly blocked the attack, looking for openings in Isaac's attacks.

He finally found one.

"_Move!_"

Isaac's stomach was open, and Alex blasted Isaac away with the simple move command. Isaac pointed his hand to the ground and shot a beam of energy down at the ground, turning it into sand for him to safely land in. By using the trampoline-like sand, Isaac shot back up at the hovering Alex, using Odyssey again. Alex blocked it by using Protect, then attacked Isaac by using Ice Missile. Isaac also blocked it with his own barrier, casting Stone Spire.

Several earth stalactites fell above Alex, but Alex shot a huge icicle at each of the stalactite to counter them. He then fired a thunder ball at Isaac, who deflected it with his powerful sword.

"_Unleash Titan Blade!_" Isaac cried.

"_Unleash Legend!_" Alex cried.

At the same time, swords made of energy fell from the skies. One looked like Isaac's Sol Blade. It pierced through Alex's body, pinning him to the ground and digging into his stomach and the ground beneath him. A golden portal appeared above Isaac and shot three consecutive blades into Isaac's armored body, severely damaging him each time, and releasing a golden explosion of electricity.

They both healed themselves with their respective curative psyenergy, relieving some of their wounds.

"_Mad Growth!_"

"_Supernova!_"

Plants grew out of the ground, carrying Alex up with their spiky thorns. Alex froze them on the spot and broke through the trap. Meanwhile, three consecutive fiery explosions burned through Isaac's armor.

"Ugh!"

"_Inferno!_"

Alex launched several large fireballs at Isaac, all homing in on him. Isaac held his hand on the ground, using a quake attack to make the earth below him rise up to block the fireballs.

"You're putting up quite a fight, especially because of that little puffball…" said Alex. "But what would happen if I targeted one of your friends?"

Alex instantly disappeared. He reappeared right in front of Jigglypuff, about to take her out.

"I'm sorry, but…" said Jigglypuff. 'We're not defenseless."

Alex stabbed Jigglypuff's stomach, freezing her insides, but Jigglypuff cried, "_Counter!_", releasing energy twice of that from Alex's sword back at Alex. Jigglypuff fell unconscious, her insides frozen, but Alex yelled in pain.

"_Falcon Knee!_"

"_Phazon Seeker Missile!_"

Captain Falcon's knee collided with Alex's head, sending him sliding across the peak. Samus sent forth five missiles with phazon at Alex at the same time, all surrounding him. They all exploded on him, engulfing him in phazon.

"Ugh…" Alex's bones stung a little from the phazon. Isaac took this moment to use another Odyssey, except these swords were made of pure steel, literally stabbing through Alex's skeletal spine.

SPLISH!

Alex was pinned to the ground by the three swords. He immediately grabbed all three, disintegrated them with psyenergy from his hands, and cried, "_Diamond Berg!_"

Isaac dodged the falling iceberg in an instant. He retaliated by using, "_Quake Sphere!_"

Alex jumped into the sky to avoid the shaking ground, about to approach Isaac from afar. "_Tempest!_"

Four powerful tornadoes of wind surrounded Isaac, about to collide on him. Isaac flew upwards to avoid the resulting explosion, crying out, "_Death Leap!_"

Alex was right in front of Isaac, right in position for this deadly attack. Isaac shot forward and grabbed Alex. He jumped upwards into the air then flew down at the speed of light, smashing Alex's body into the ground.

KABOOM!

Isaac was floating in the air again, holding his sword out.

"Ugh…" Alex groaned. He began to kneel up, just as Isaac called his most powerful move. "_GRAND GAIA!!_"

As before, the ground exploded. Alex was engulfed within the huge beam of energy shooting from the earth.

KABOOM!

Alex's body was sent flying. Isaac pursued Alex, flying towards him.

_Shoot… I'm running out of the energy that Jigglypuff gave me…_

"_Dragon Fume!!_"

Alex shot forward a dragon made of fire and launched it at Isaac. Isaac was struck directly in the chest, and because Jigglypuff's Amnesia boost was running out, Isaac felt most of the pain from the attack and was sent flying back, his armor burnt through.

"You're really becoming a pest…" said Alex.

"Ha… I'm going to defeat you…" said Isaac, panting. "With this one finishing move…"

"Hm… A finishing move? I believe I'll use mine then!"

They both rose up in the air, levitating and charging their moves. It was a final battle between the two mighty deities.

"_Judgement… Finishing blow!!_"

"_Charon… Finishing Blow!!_"

Isaac held his lion cannon forth and fired a huge energy ball of energy at Alex. At the same time, Alex fired a red beam of energy back at Isaac, slightly thinner but seemingly as deadly.

The gigantic ball of energy was approaching the hellish beam of energy, about to combat each other. They were about to touch…

Isaac's heart was pounding.

_**KABOOM!!**_

* * *

"It is time…" said Gaspar.

"What?" asked Spekkio. "You just said that out of nowhere!"

"To use my one and only chance to leave the End of Time…" he said.

"But… But… why all of a sudden?" asked Spekkio.

"This is the one opportunity that I must use so the universe may continue…" said Gaspar. "Trust me. I know what I am doing. I will return. The enemy has one debt to pay me."

"But… Okay…" replied Spekkio. "Be careful, Gaspar."

"Of course." Gaspar walked up to an ancient teleportation pad made of stone. His body glowed. _It truly is my only time to truly walk the universe… I was given only one chance to walk one of the planets, and this is my chance…_

He turned into light, disappearing away.

* * *

Isaac was on the ground, face down. His form disappeared, and he was completely unconscious.

"Isaac!" cried the smashers, sans Luigi and Jigglypuff, who were still knocked out. The smashers were hiding Luigi, Jigglypuff, and the adepts far from the battle scene in the forest, and they just witnessed Isaac's defeat.

"No… No fucking way…" said Captain Falcon. "If Isaac can't…"

"Do you see? Do you see my true power?" said Alex. "You can't possibly defeat me!"

"But you'll have to face off against me next!" said Samus.

"I grow tired of this trash," said Alex. He held out a hand, charging a huge red energy ball. "I have the power I need, I no longer have any use of this world. I can conquer the universe by eliminating you rats along with this world, so nobody can be the master of Alchemy except me!"

"Whoa…" said Fox. "Look at that…"

The ball in Alex's right hand was ferociously huge. It easily dwarfed the size of Mount Aleph. You could barely see Alex, who was camouflaged with the entire attack.

"Saryonara, you pathetic weaklings," said Alex.

"No! We have to stop it!" said Fox. "_Level Three… Mind Form!_"

"_Ren Kiu!_" Samus cried.

Fox, Samus, and Captain Falcon jumped all the way up at Alex, just as Alex released the explosive ball of doom down at them…


	100. Chapter 100: The Gathering

Hack: YES! Big chapter one hundred! I seriously did not think I would actually get this far, but indeed, this story has finally hit chapter 100! And I predict over twenty more chapters in this story, as there will be one more huge, huge, and I mean, HUGE arc right after this one! Of course it'll be huge, because it's the freakin' finale of the entire story that's been going on for at least two years!

Enjoy the conclusion of the Alex fight…

* * *

**Chapter 100: The Gathering**

Samus was panting. She was on the ground, and had lost all of her energy to fight on.

"I can't believe… It… We survived…" she gasped.

Fox was out cold from the experience, while Captain Falcon was also standing, though barely.

"Geez… Who did it… Who could've freaking stopped… that…?" he gasped.

Alex's eyes widened as he whirled around to see someone that neither Samus nor Falcon recognized.

"YOU!! Why did you stop me? Why on earth…" he yelled, pointing at a blue transparent figure.

The man smirked. "Well… Seeing as you were about to destroy the only way to create more of the Endowment of Exigency… I had to step in for once. You have lost control, Alex, and now you will pay!"

"Ha! You think I will pay against you? I have both that and the Golden Sun! _Spark Plasma!_"

The blue figure dodged every bolt, then he appeared right in front of Alex.

"You know that I was able to stop even your catastrophic attack," he said. "You have no chance against me."

"Try me! _Charon! Finishing Blow!_"

He fired a huge energy ball of doom again, this time at the blue figure.

KABOOM!

The figure was still standing, unphased. He was glowing unnaturally bright.

"_Ren Kiu…_"

KABOOM!

His hand was instantly in Alex's chest. Blue material seeped through Alex's body. He flicked Alex aside like a rag doll, smirking.

"You have no chance against me, Alex. You would do well not to face your master, Tabuu…"

Alex attempted to bring his head up to retaliate. He raised his hand feebly, but Tabuu raised a foot and stomped on it. Hard. Alex's hand was completely annihilated. The bones were completely gone, and Alex screamed in pain from the ruthless attack.

"You guys are truly useless… So long, Alex…"

"No… _Ice… Missile…_"

BAM!

Before Alex could use any more psyenergy, Tabuu turned his hand into a knife and sliced off Alex's head in one clean motion. Alex was dead in an instant.

"Now to take care of some cockroaches…" said Tabuu, whirling around at Samus and Captain Falcon.

"No… You're the master, aren't you?" asked Samus.

Tabuu snickered. "I saw you fight. You're Samus, the one that took the Endowment of Exigency from countless servants, including Ridley, Vaati, Wolf, Metaknight, Black Shadow… Everyone…"

"So what if I am?" asked Samus. "I'm here to destroy you."

"And she has me to back her up!" said Captain Falcon, raising his fists.

"Ah… I apologize, but… You guys…"

BAM!

Even Falcon could not read Tabuu's movements. Instinctively, Falcon drew his head back. His neck was cut so deeply, however, that he instantly lost consciousness.

"Ugh…" Falcon grunted, falling to the ground.

"Captain Falcon!!" Samus cried. She pointed her arm cannon at Tabuu and fired a phazon missile.

KABOOM!

It exploded on Tabuu, leaving no noticeable marks on him at all!"

"Stop."

Another shadowy figure appeared right between Tabuu and Samus.

"You!!" It was Tabuu's turn to be surprised.

"Gaspar!" cried Samus.

"Yes, it's me…" said Gaspar. "It's been years, Tabuu. Or should I say…"

"Would you dare reveal my true identity, the one controlling the strings behind this figure?" said Tabuu. "He is merely a rag doll to me."

"Yes, that is true… However…" said Gaspar, smiling. "What remains true is that you owe me a debt."

"…No… Not that debt…"

Samus was looking between the two, confused.

"Yes. You are to leave these smashers alone. You are to leave Weyard immediately and leave the smashers alone for this time period."

"You can get anything you want from me… Yet you waste that debt on these smashers?" snickered Tabuu.

"Wasted or not, that is my request. You know very well that we are evenly matched. You have the Endowment of Exigency, while I have the power of Time…"

"Ha… Well then… You saved my life before, and I will spare them… these pathetic weaklings…" said Tabuu, glaring at Samus. "However, there was also another request should you ask for this debt…"

"Ah yes… That I will have to make in due time, but not now."

"All is fine then?" asked Tabuu.

"But you should also remember!" said Gaspar, with a booming voice. "These smashers will grow more powerful in this period of time! I will help them grow stronger, and one particular individual will grow stronger than me, strong enough to defeat you and your true form!"

"Right… believe what you will…" said Tabuu. "There is no chance… NONE… that you all can break through the Battlefield galaxy and reach me anyways. All of my dark slaves are more powerful than my strongest servant, Metaknight. And if you seriously believe that everyone can pass them… you jest!"

BAM!

Tabuu was paying no attention to one who was unconscious for a long time…

Luigi slammed an invisible punch into Tabuu's face, and it actually…

"hurts… It hurts…" muttered Tabuu, holding his bleeding cheek. He whirled around at Luigi. "You… You… YOU!!"

"Stop!" Gaspar teleported right between Tabuu and Luigi.

"You think you're stronger than us?" asked Luigi. "We'll have to find out now!"

"No! You stand no chance!" said Gaspar. "Leave it, Luigi!"

"But…" Luigi muttered. He lowered his hand.

"Leave us alone, Tabuu."

"How long must I wait?"

"…Thirty days. Thirty days will do."

"I can live with that, but remember! After time is up, you are all going to die by the hands of the Battlefield…" said Tabuu. "I control the Endowment of Exigency."

He then disappeared.

"Luigi… Samus…" Gaspar rushed over to the pair. "Are you hurt? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" said Luigi. "But… Was that the master…? What debt did he owe you?"

"The debt is nothing…" said Gaspar. He eyed Luigi carefully.

_He must be it… The one that will fight…_

"And Alex…?"

"He is dead," said Gaspar.

Luigi smiled. "Sweet! We finished what we came here to do!"

"…but not by the hands of your peers. By the hands of Tabuu."

Luigi stopped in an instant. "What?"

"We have no time to lose. I will bring you to the End of Time immediately," said Gaspar. "You five."

"Wait…" Isaac stood up. "Take me with you…"

"What?" asked Samus. "But… you're not…"

"I can help… It seems like there's some place that needs some extra fighters," said Isaac, smiling.

"Okay… We can use more fighters. I will bring you there... and explain everything…" said Gaspar.

"But it seems so rushed…" said Samus. "We can't just leave everything…"

"Yes we can," said Gaspar. "Isaac's friends will fix the town. Do not worry. Time is of essence. Do you understand?"

"…Okay…" said Samus.

* * *

In the End of Time, the five smashers and Isaac, who is now included as a smasher, were standing in the darkness.

"Wow… what is this place…?" Isaac gasped in awe.

"The End of Time, where it contains the past, present, and future," said Gaspar.

"So what is this thirty days thing?" asked Luigi.

"Yes, please…" said Jigglypuff. "I want to know what's going on…"

"Hm… Well… The master and I used to be friends. We socialized, we played, we battled, and we were geniuses. However, we became enemies later based on our beliefs of power. This was where the Endowment of Exigency began."

"Wait, you started all this crap?" cried Captain Falcon.

"Please. Hear me out. We both researched the ingredients, and found something astounding in our research. This power… It was incredible. This was where we parted ways, though. I wanted to use it to protect the world. However, the master's selfish desires took over and he claimed the research for himself. He wanted to conquer the Nintendo Universe."

"So you wanted to protect and he wanted to conquer…" said Fox. "Continue."

"We set off on our own different paths. We created our own alternate universes. I was affiliated with time, so I created this dimension, the End of Time. He, on the other hand, controlled space and created the Battlefield dimension, which is where the headquarters of the Ring of Darkness lays now."

"But everyone in it is dead except him!" said Samus. "We killed them all!"

"You killed the main officials, but he controls armies of wired frames. He has several more generals, and more importantly… He created the dark villains. They are more powerful than their counterparts and are all on Metaknight's level."

Fox gulped. He did not like the prospect of facing ten stronger Metaknights.

"However, when we were still friends, in our research, he almost died in a fight to research pikmin. The Titan Dweevil almost killed him. We were not so powerful at that point, but I saved him from that monster. He promised to pay me his debt, anything I wanted, at some time. I persisted against it, but he persisted. And this is it. Protecting you all for thirty days."

"…Wow…" said Jigglypuff, in awe.

"I never knew there was such a huge conflict outside of my world," said Isaac.

"While he is building his army, I am building my own to combat his," explained Gaspar.

"Really? What is this army?" asked Samus.

"The smashers. Allow me to reunite you…"

Out of a black hole in the floor, a huge circular platform appeared with what seemed to be a crowd of millions of allies.

Peach was smiling and she jumped on Luigi, hugging him tightly. "Luigi!! I can't believe you're still alive…"

"Geez, he's Mario's brother for damn's sake," said Bowser. "Of course he's damn tough!"

"Yeah, and his stead's here to help!" said Yoshi, winking at Luigi.

"Why the hell am I here…" sighed Wario, who was on Yoshi's back.

"I'm not too late, am I?" asked Geno, who just teleported in. "The star spirits just…"

"GENO!!" the Mushroom Kingdom stars cried.

"So we're all together in this again… Aren't we?" asked Donkey Kong.

"Yeah, and I'm here to cover you this time!" said Diddy Kong, holding his peanut guns.

"Link!" said Samus. "Zelda! Shouldn't you both be at Hyrule?"

"There're more important things to take care of right now," said Zelda.

"Yeah… Such as saving the universe," smiled Link. "Thanks to what Ganondorf did, I decided to bring back the trifroce from the sacred realm."

Ganondorf simply grunted in response.

"And of course, I'm here!" said Young Link, smiling brightly.

"Jigglypuff!" cried Pikachu. "You're still doing great, right?"

"Of course!" said Jigglypuff.

"Wow… Pikachu, you sure know a huge crazy crowd," said Ash, who was standing over Pikachu and amazed.

"This is it? The smashers?" asked Ike, carrying his Ragnell. "Looks like a pleasing crowd to me!"

"Hey you guys!" said Ness, waving his bat.

"Ness!" cried Peach. "You've grown! So much too!"

"Wow, you really are much taller," said Pikachu.

"Hey!" cried Pit.

"Pit! Should you really be here, dude?" asked Captain Falcon.

Pit shook his head. "Well… The planet… it's gone but… I can't wallow in self-pity forever. I've got to fight. I will."

"There are quite a few interesting creatures around here…" said Olimar, looking around the towering smashers.

"These are all our crowd," said Fox. "It's who we hang out with. I just wished the Starfox Team were here to back me up…"

"But we are," said Peppy. He was followed by Slippy and Krystal, who were both wearing happy smiles.

"Peppy… Krystal!" Fox gave Krystal a hug. He quickly released her when he realized something.

"Wait… The baby… It's…"

"He's right here!" said Krystal, smiling. She held up a baby fox robed in blue cloth. "I haven't named him yet, but…"

"We'll decide that later," said Fox, who was also smiling brightly. He turned around to Slippy. "Slippy…"

"I've got all my stuff rearranged," said Slippy. "You don't need to worry about what's going on down in Corneria!"

"But Slippy!"

"I decided to come back! At least for this fight! I can't miss this one out anyways!" said Slippy, shaking Fox's hand.

"…Glad to have you back…" said Fox.

"You see? This is the army I have been gathering," said Gaspar. "You are all capable of taking on Tabuu's armies."

"But it's like he said, none of us stand a chance against him…" said Luigi.

"Right now, that is true… The key words here are right now."

"Right now? So we're going to be training in the End of Time again?" asked Jigglypuff.

Spekkio sighed. "You already learned everything that I can teach you, Jigglypuff…" he sighed. "You're on your own here."

"It'll be more like individual training," said Gaspar. "Training will begin tomorrow. You will be training for twenty nine days straight."

"Training?" asked Isaac. "That's kinda…"

"I'm fine with it," said Peach.

"As am I."

"And I."

The other smashers muttered in agreement.

"Will this truly be enough though? For us to defeat Tabuu?" asked Fox.

Gaspar nodded. "It will depend on how efficiently you train… Furthermore, I have a feeling that only one of us will be facing Tabuu."

There was silence.

"…Who is it?" asked Samus.

"I'm guessing Samus, cuz of her awesome Endowment of Exigency!" cried Captain Falcon.

"Ironically… Tabuu has marked you as his mortal enemy, Luigi…" said Gaspar.

Everyone's heads turned to Luigi. Luigi pointed at himself, with a surprised expression on his face. "…what… me? You're probably mistaking me for Mario or… Samus, or…"

"No, Luigi, you struck Tabuu in the face," said Gaspar. "The fact that you actually did damage to him and that you dealt a blow to him turned you into his rival."

"Rival? This has to be some kind of joke…" said Luigi.

"He's right," said Fox. "Luigi, you've been growing the most out of all of us. You've gained these weird powers from the stars, you can handle basically any situation…"

"And most of all," Peach cut in. "Mario's blood runs through your veins."

"Peach? How do you know…" asked Luigi, but Peach shook her head.

"I know you forgave him just from your behavior," she explained. "And for that, I'm glad. Mario was a great leader, and it really sucks that he left us…"

There was another looming silence. Peach sniffed briefly. Luigi was sorely tempted to burst out as well, and a few others had the same feeling.

"…but… you're his brother. He entrusted you as the leader of the smash community."

"I think Gaspar would be well suited for that," Luigi retaliated. "He's really much stronger than us too."

"I only gathered the smashers, I am not a leader," explained Gaspar. "And power does not determine leadership."

"Uh…" Luigi was running out of excuses.

"And I can no longer leave the End of Time because of my contract with my friend. We can only leave our corresponding spaces once in our lifetime. We both used up that privilege. However, Tabuu can navigate the Battlefield while I cannot navigate the End of Time, so he can attack us from there. Luigi, the smashers need a capable leader."

"How about… We vote this out?" Luigi asked shyly.

"Fine!" said Fox, confidently. "All for Luigi as leader?" He raised his hand.

"Fine by me," said Samus.

"I'm pretty sexy, but I know why I'm no leader, so I'm not against it," said Captain Falcon.

"Luigi, you follow your brother's footsteps really well…" said Jigglypuff. "I'm for it as well."

"I agree…" said Peach, raising her hand. "I've known you, and you've grown into a great leader."

"My eternal rival's been buff all the time…" said Bowser. "But you're no worse right now."

"Luigi, you'll consider it, right?" asked Yoshi.

As seconds passed by, smashers raised their hands consecutively. Finally, the last hand seen was Olimar's, as he was too short to be seen.

"Great! Everyone voted for you!" said Gaspar, smiling.

"Save for me, as I know I'd be the best!" said Wario, but nobody paid any heed to him.

"Oh boy…" Luigi muttered nervously.

"So, Luigi, we're all going to follow you," said Fox.

"No kidding," said Samus.

"With you all the way, dude," said Captain Falcon.

"I know you'll be great," said Jigglypuff.

"Uh… okay… so… We'll start off today by resting…" said Luigi, the words coming to him naturally. "But tomorrow, we have twenty-nine days left until Tabuu attacks us. We have to train our butts off so we can fight him and his armies off. You're all on your own, but if you need help…"

"I can help," said Gaspar. "I can essentially slow down time in here, so we can complete three months of training within 30 days."

"Excellent. Then… No complaints against it?"

Nobody answered. Luigi took that as a no.

"Okay then. Gaspar, is there any other way to change the atmosphere of the End of Time for us to grow more?"

Gaspar nodded. "Although my friend is more oriented with controlling, space, I believe I can double the gravitation force in this dimension…"

He snapped his fingers. Everyone suddenly fell on their face from the sudden increase in gravity.

"OW! What's up with this?" Falcon muttered angrily. "I can't pick myself up very well!"

Luigi was also struggling to get back on his feet, fighting the force of gravity. "Great… this is… great…" he panted. "So… We'll rest under these conditions… I'll discuss the defense plans with Gaspar… So we're off!"

"We need a name," said Peach. "Almost half of our original melee cast are gone. Mario isn't here anymore…"

"Neither is Roy…" said Captain Falcon.

"Nor… Falco…" muttered Fox.

"Doctor Mario's gone too," said Samus.

"And so's Mewtwo, the traitor…" added Jigglypuff.

"I don't see Marth anywhere…" said Ness.

"Pichu isn't here either," said Pikachu. "Where did he go?"

"Anyone noticed Popo and Nana?" asked Yoshi.

"And Kirby too…" said Luigi, now noticing how many are missing.

"I have belief to suspect that the ones sent to guard the Final Destination have been kidnapped as hostage months before," said Gaspar. "Whether or not they are still alive is beyond me. Regretfully, I received these news only a few days ago…"

"They have to be…" said Pikachu. "They have to… There's no way…"

"We can't just lose five of our cast just like that," said Young Link.

"Where they are… We'll rescue them on our mission into the Battlefield. Right now… Right. On the bright side… We've got a bunch of newcomers… And all of you might not have been introduced to everyone else yet," said Luigi. "So then… our latest one, Isaac, please come up here."

Isaac stood up, walking up to Luigi's side.

"Uh… hey…" said Isaac, staggering from the gravity. "My name's Isaac… and I'm from Weyard, where Luigi here just was."

"Talk about your powers a little," said Luigi.

"Right. I'm sure most of you never heard of psyenergy, so it's a little like controlling an aspect of nature, and I can control the power of the earth."

"Earth? That's intriguing," said Ness. "Care to show us?"

"Of course. _Quake!_"

Ness was flipped upwards into the air by a light quake attack. Caught by surprise, Ness fell flat on his face. "Ow!"

"Ugh… it's much harder with this gravity…" said Isaac.

"Okay, so…" said Luigi. "Give a hand for Isaac!"

Everyone clapped.

"Next… Donkey Kong, why don't you bring Diddy up here?" asked Luigi.

"Of course," said Donkey Kong. "Go, Diddy!"

Diddy Kong, with some trouble, ran up to where Luigi stood.

"Yo! How are you guys? I'm from the Kong Isle and a relative of Donkey Kong. You guys from Mushroom Kingdom…" He pointed at Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong. "You all know me, and you all know that I'm going to put all I can into this save the universe stuff! Thank you!!"

Everyone cheered for Diddy Kong as well. Luigi smiled as he scanned the crowd for more newcomers.

"Wario… How about you?"

"Wha? Me? You know it! I'm too good for all of ya to go up there, as you know I'll be the richest guy in the world!" cried Wario. Everyone was grumbling with disapproval. "Of course, if the universe isn't here, there'd be no treasure to nab, so just this once…" He looked at Luigi. "I'm gonna give my packy punch to the green machine cuz he can't win without me!"

There was scattered applause.

"Are you sure he should fight with us?" Peach whispered to Yoshi, who nervously smiled.

"He has his uses," said Yoshi.

"Next, we've got… Ike, from the country of Crimea! The leader of… the Crimean Army, right?"

Ike walked up to Luigi, nodding. "Hey… How are you? With my country winning its independence, I'm now just a mercenary… So I'll be giving you all my services for free, and we'll all need to be one big family together to fight for our cause!"

"He reminds me of Roy and Marth," said Zelda.

"Yeah, he does… Another swordsman in the group," replied Link.

There was more applause as Luigi scanned the room again. "…Uh…" Luigi was starting to get a little tired. "Geno… Come up here, will you?"

"Gladly. I come from Star Road of the Mushroom Kingdom," said Geno. "And I've taken the body of this puppet. It has amazing powers, and I'll be using the powers of the stars to enhance it. I'm sure my services won't disappoint."

Everyone clapped… Again…

Luigi looked at his own hands. _Just like I just started using the power I inherited from Mario…_ "Uh, next… Pit, our sole archer, come up here!"

Pit flew up to where Luigi was, with difficulty due to the gravity. "Hello, My name is Pit," he said very formally. "I am proud to be part of this group, and with my planet gone… regrettably…"

There was more muttering.

"…Um… But I will not wallow in self-pity. No, with my bow of Palutena, I will fight for the universe so nobody else will have to suffer the losses that I have suffered! Thank you!"

There were lots of cheers from Pit's brief speech. Luigi cleared his throat nervously. "Uh… Ash, why don't you come up here?"

"Wha? Me?" asked Ash. "But I don't fight, I just…"

"There's a reason Gaspar brought you here, Ash, and I'm sure you'll help us in the end," said Luigi. "Please. Everyone wants to know at least what your name is."

"But they already do," Ash laughed. The crowd chuckled.

"Ha ha, very funny…" Luigi smacked himself in the forehead.

"Okay, okay… Hey everyone, my name is Ash, and… Well… I'm a pokemon trainer, and I'm sure you all know what pokemon are? Right, so… I'm sure that with me and my pokemon fighting together, we can take down these guys! Right, Pikachu? Jigglypuff?"

"Of course!" cried Pikachu. Jigglypuff also nodded.

"Okay, thanks Ash!" said Luigi. "Lastly we have Captain Olimar here, from the Pikmin World!"

The small Olimar squeezed his way through the crowd and stood besides the towering Luigi.

"Good… um… afternoon? Yes, good afternoon everyone!" said Olimar. "These people have helped me with my problems, and simply put, I will return the favor for all of you! I will be sure that the enemy will not go unpunished by me and my pikmin. Thank you!"

Everyone cheered the loudest for the last newcomer. Luigi smiled.

"Well… that's it…"

"I'd say with this new group, with so many newcomers…" said Fox. "We need a new name. We're no longer the smash brothers melee…"

"No," said Luigi, already thought up of a cool name. "We're the brawlers, and we brawl for the universe. We've all got that?" He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. Everyone else was nodding in agreement, but jumped when he screamed…

"WE'RE THE SUPER SMASH BRAWLERS!!"


	101. Chapter 101: The Battlefield

Hack: Sometime soon, I might go on a hiatus for this fic, so I can polish up the previous hundred chapters or so. Hopefully it won't take too long, so I can finish up this entire story. It's been two years! Wow! Well, this might be a bit climatic, but… Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 101: The Battlefield**

"Your majesty… This is a tricky situation you've put us in…" said the Red Alloy.

"We must send all of our troops to attack the End of Time immediately!" said the Yellow Alloy.

"No, refrain," said Tabuu.

"But why??" asked the Green Alloy.

"Honestly, it makes no sense since…"

"Did you not understand me?" said Tabuu, in a loud, dark, booming voice. "You are not to attack until thirty days have passed."

"…Understood…" muttered the alloys.

"But then meanwhile, we can militarize all of our troops and become prepared for the assault. The special base is not defenseless, so if they decided to attack within the thirty day peace period… I highly doubt it," explained Tabuu. "The bridge must be lowered, the keys must be collected, and they will have no chance in reaching me. They will be destroyed before they have a chance of reaching the dark entities."

"Yet… why have you killed Alex?" asked the Yellow Alloy.

"Alex? I would have spared him, even if he had failed, but he had attempted to destroy Weyard, our only source for the power. I cannot forgive him for his lust of power."

"Yet you refuse to kill these immediately…"

"We shall discuss this no more. Despite your individual powers, even all four of you cannot defeat me at once," said Tabuu with a booming, angry, yet formal voice. "Is that clear?"

"…Yes, your majesty…"

"Excellent. Now we play the waiting game…"

* * *

Fox was panting heavily. It was only the third day of training out of ninety.

"Can't I rest…?" he asked Krystal. "It's too hard… and with this gravity…"

Krystal slammed her target board into Fox's stomach, shooting pain through him.

"No!" said Krystal. "You barely defeated Metaknight in your Zero Form! After what you told me about the staff speaking to you, you need to bring your stamina up! If you don't push yourself past the limit, then you can't improve it!"

"I know… I know… but just a little rest?"

"NO! You can only keep your Mind Form for fifteen minutes long consistently! Our goal is to reach Zero Form for at least an hour!"

Fox panted. "Ugh… All right then… Level three… _Mind Form!_"

Fox transformed again, levitating his staffs. He held it for about a minute, then he released it, unable to maintain it any longer.

Krystal sighed. "What am I going to do with you… You're going to face people stronger than Metaknight there."

"Not stronger… As strong as. And if I improve at all in this training, I'm capable of defeating these guys," said Fox.

"You can't get careless, Fox," said Gaspar, appearing beside Fox. "In the time between Metaknight's defeat and this final battle, more powerful enemies could have been created by Tabuu."

"Right… but it's still tiring…" said Fox, dropping his staff.

Luigi was watching from afar, stretching himself.

"It really is something, training in this heavy atmosphere…" said Luigi.

_We've been through tons, and we've all grown so much. We can't afford to lose everything at this point, we have to stand up to the challenges ahead and break through, protecting the universe._

"Luigi," said Gaspar. "I have something to show you."

"Hm?"

"Come with me," said Gaspar.

* * *

Captain Falcon was holding a fist, then he slammed it into the wall with a bullet punch, breaking it down.

"It's way harder to break these walls now… Oh man…" he said. _Using a shadow punch will risk losing my arm in this place… Oh man, how am I going to train?_

He suddenly spotted something in the corner of his eye. He kneeled for a second, and then chased after it.

"Hey! YOU!!" cried Captain Falcon, struggling against the gravity to keep up. "Haven't I seen you before!!"

The blur stopped momentarily, whirling around. Captain Falcon skidded to a halt.

"Hey! I remember you!" said the blue guy. "So it seems like you aren't a slug anymore, more like a turtle."

"Pretty damn cocky, Sonic…" said Captain Falcon. "How the heck do you run at full speed here?"

"This heavier gravity? I've mastered running in all conditions, there's no way I can't run with heavier gravity."

"But... Hey Sonic… Can you help me?"

"Huh… Help you with what?"

"If you didn't know… We're facing off against this asshole named Tabuu, and we're training here for three months, which are really in thirty days."

"Yeah, I know how crazy things in the End of Time can get."

"So… I need to train."

Captain Falcon shifted his eyes at Sonic.

"So, you're implying that you want training from me?" asked Sonic. "Sorry, no can do, I've got a few things on my world to sort out…"

"But hey! This is the universe we're talking about! You can't just ditch us and…"

"The universe? This is the NINTENDO universe you're talking about! For your information, the End of Time is NOT part of the NINTENDO universe. I come from the Sega universe, and I am currently chasing Doctor Eggman, who used Chaos Control to teleport into a different dimension!"

"Doctor Eggman?" Captain Falcon pondered for a moment. "Do you know where he went?"

"Some unknown dimension called the Battlefield…" said Sonic.

"That's where we're headed next!" said Falcon.

"Hm, coincidental, dude… Well, that may be cool and all, but you'll stand no chance there."

"Neither will you."

"Excuse me?"

Sonic began to tap his feet on the ground.

"I'm saying, dude, that even with your top speed, you can't stand up against the likes of Tabuu. We got owned by some guy, and then that guy got owned by Tabuu."

"I'm different. I won't lose unlike you guys."

"Then so be it. Let's fight."

"Fight?" asked Sonic, laughing. "You, fight me? The fight's already over, little turtle."

"I'm not the same as before, little punk," said Falcon, raising his fist. "If I win, you'll stay here and train with us. Otherwise… You go on and get your ass kicked.

Sonic stretched his legs again. "You can change the rules. If you even _hit _me, I'll join you guys. It's a lost cause either way."

BAM!

Captain Falcon was sent flying in oblivion by a swift punch from Sonic. Falcon was sliding across the floor, still not realizing what just happened.

"Pfft… wha?"

"Idiot, the fight's already started!" said Sonic, dealing over a hundred punches on Falcon's body at once.

BOOM!

Captain Falcon spat out blood as he was sent plowing through the air.

"Ugh! PFFLACH!!"

Captain Falcon could not see Sonic at all. He could not move. It all happened within a second.

_Ugh… he's too fast… faster than me and Wolf combined… times two… but he doesn't have the power, so if I can just land one hit…_

Captain Falcon began to run, crying, "_Falcon Dash!_" but Sonic instantly caught up.

PSHHHHHHHH!!

Sonic spun into Captain Falcon's body, tripping him up. Sonic then appeared right below Falcon, kicking him up into the air.

Sonic appeared right above Captain Falcon, spiking him into the black ground.

KABOOM!

Captain Falcon was standing up, not too badly hurt.

"You see? Speed prevails over everything," said Sonic. "What's the point in power if you can't hit anything with it?"

"You little…" Captain Falcon slammed his fist at Sonic, but Sonic dodged it. The wall behind Sonic crumbled into pieces as Falcon dashed to the side to finally dodge Sonic's punches.

"You think you can beat me with those little fists of yours?" taunted Sonic. "YOU'RE TOO FREAKIN' SLOW!! You've gotta have more than that to even HIT me!"

"Shut your ass!" said Falcon, having enough of Sonic's taunts. "SPEED BREAK!! _Falcon Dash!_"

FOOM!

He was about to overtake Sonic when Sonic grinned cockily.

"Stealing one of my techniques… You think that's going to work against me? SPEED BREAK!!"

Sonic disappeared again, while Captain Falcon was moving past his limits.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!

Sonic landed five punches on Falcon's gut, knocking the wind out of him. Sonic was right behind him, floating in the air.

"Homing attack!"

Captain Falcon swiftly sidestepped, but Sonic curved in the air in his ball form, hitting Falcon in the stomach.

Sonic held up a ring with a fire symbol on it, creating a fire barrier around himself. He then shot forward in ball form, faster than he even ran.

FOOM!!

Captain Falcon was severely burned in the chest by the powerful attack. Falcon was on his back, about to be slammed by Sonic from above.

_No! I'm not about to get my ass kicked here! If fists don't work…_

Falcon held out his hand, remembering an attack that Alex used before. "_Super nova!!_"

KABOOM!

"What the hell is going on here?" asked Bowser, now coming into the scene, seeing the huge explosion Captain Falcon created right in front of him. However, Sonic was smirking.

"This barrier protects me from fire," said Sonic. "I realize now that you're a flame-user."

"You little…"

Sonic wagged his finger. "It's my win after all. You can't use your fists, and you can't use fire. What else do you…"

FOOM!

Captain Falcon created shadow hands on the ground, pinning Sonic's feet to the ground. For the first time, it was Sonic's turn to be surprised. "What?"

"Here I come!" said Captain Falcon. "BULLET PUNCH!!"

He slammed his fist into Sonic's chest, but Sonic grabbed his fist instantly.

"Idiot… If you're going to pin me down…" said Sonic. "You have to pin every part of my body down!" Sonic slammed his other fist into Captain Falcon's chest. Falcon flinched in pain, but it was not too painful.

"You're speed is the real thing…" said Captain Falcon. "But your punch have no punch in them!" he continued, copying Wolf's line. He was still holding onto Sonic's hand, rearing his other fist back. "Since you've never been hit yet… BULLET PUNCH!!"

BAM!

* * *

Luigi was led by Gaspar to another teleportation pad. "Where are you taking me?" he asked.

Gaspar whirled around to Luigi. "Into the Battlefield Zone," he said.

Luigi almost tripped himself. "Wh.. Whaaat?"

"Exactly." Gaspar held his hand out, tapping Luigi's head. "Our two worlds are linked together, so we have special access. However, you are invisible. Nobody will be able to detect you, even Tabuu."

"But… why… There?"

"There is something I must show you. I am sure it will benefit you greatly when invading enemy territory."

Luigi nodded. "If it's something that will help us… I'll surely do it. Please, take me there," he said with a much braver voice.

Gaspar replied, "There is, however, a few conditions. You must cooperate with me."

"Okay."

"Remember, we will be entering territory where either of us could die. You must be on your guard at all time. You may be invisible and undetectable, but you are still physical. You can still be killed."

"Right."

"I have given you this…" Gaspar gave Luigi a remote with a red button. "This will instantly transport you back here, when the time comes."

"The time… comes?"

"Listen to me. You must not attack anyone. You will do as I say."

"Why would I attack anyone?"

"Listen. Luigi, if I tell you not to combat the enemy, will you obey?"

Luigi gulped. "Yes."

"If I tell you to memorize the layout of the battlefield, will you do that?"

"Yes."

"If I tell you to leave me and come back, will you do that?"

"What?"

"Luigi!"

They stared at each other for a second.

"I barely know you, Gaspar, but…"

"Luigi!"

"Fine! Yes!"

"That is settled. Let us go into Tabuu's territory…" Gaspar lit the pad, and they both stepped in…

* * *

Darkness. It was not the peaceful darkness in the End of Time, but rather, a darkness with the presence of evil everywhere. Luigi was sweating down his back.

"You are now invisible. You are not to talk, Luigi, do you understand?"

"Mm…" Luigi replied, trying to make as little noise as possible.

Gaspar and Luigi began to walk down the huge dark pathway. Wired Frames were at the sides, staring at Gaspar with suspicion.

"Isn't he our enemy?"

"Stop, the commander says we shouldn't attack this guy!"

"But what if he came to…"

They were all pointing and jeering at Gaspar, who was ignoring them. Luigi was staring around himself in awe.

It was a battlefield all right. In pure darkness was a huge field, fit for a war. They continued to walk miles upon miles down the battlefield until they reached a huge medieval wall.

"The Battle Tower…" Gaspar muttered. "It has been years. Getting past this wall is a feat to complete, yet… The two towers at each end of this mile-long wall… After climbing the wall, one must lower the bridge behind it by releasing the locks at each of the two towers."

Luigi was listening carefully, knowing that Gaspar was doing much more than talking to himself.

"However…" Gaspar continued to speak to himself as they approached the tall stone wall. "It cannot be broken through. Anyways, this entire space can only be invaded from the outside, we can only teleport here once."

_So we've used that teleport? Our only way in? …but why?_ Luigi thought.

"It is guarded by several battle ships, all greater than the Halberd… Very well-created, Tabuu. I am sure you can hear me."

The bridge was lowered to allow Gaspar and Luigi across with a loud thud.

BOOM!

They walked yet another mile down the massive, wide, black stone bridge that hung over the dark chasm leading into infinite oblivion. They finally reached a massive castle.

"The battle castle… Composed of several floors… Tabuu, who is waiting at the very top. The castle is indestructible unless the master of this world is destroyed," said Gaspar.

A glowing pad appeared in front of them.

Luigi gulped nervously as he followed Gaspar into it.

* * *

Luigi almost gasped out loud at his surroundings.

They were in the top floor. It was just like a normal castle, except all black. The shining black curtains covering the indestructible windows, the hanging black chandelier with black candle flames, the black throne at the very end of the room which had…

"Tabuu," said Gaspar. Luigi was shivering silently.

"Gaspar. It has been a while indeed," said Tabuu, shaking hands with Gaspar. "Since I've won that fight before, your part of the debt is still not yet completed."

"I know, which is why I have come."

"I have already given the order for my minions to refrain from attacking. They are thirsting for violence… I hope your smashers will be ready once the month is completed."

"Oh, they will be," said Gaspar, smirking.

Suddenly, a voice in Luigi's head sounded.

_Go! Run! Get to the other end of the room and get out of here!_

Luigi's eyes widened. He shifted himself to the back of the room while seeing Tabuu approaching Gaspar.

"It must be… ah… unfortunate that your life will end here," said Tabuu.

"Well, bygones be bygones, I might as well keep my promise," said Gaspar, holding his arms out. "Your level is beyond mine anyways."

"I will miss you," said Tabuu, smirking. "But you are in the way of my goals. A worthy sacrifice."

Luigi's mouth opened, about to scream out no, but an invisible force restrained him from screaming.

"Any last words?" asked Tabuu.

"Just a few," said Gaspar. "I may not be powerful enough to defeat you. In fact, you are ten times more powerful than me by far. However, once our armies fight… Luigi will be the one to defeat you. Remember that name."

"Luigi? That little weakling? Ha! Those are your last words?"

Gaspar nodded. "Farewell, my friend, Mis…"

"Do not call me that right now!"

BAM!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" But Luigi was already gone, back into the End of Time.


	102. Chapter 102: Training for the Finale

Hack: Okay, I'm not going on a complete hiatus, but I won't be updating as much now, especially since I'm more busy. Sorry for that! But this chapter is basically just another development slash transition chapter. The final arc will truly begin… next chapter. Enjoy…

* * *

**Chapter 102: Training for the Finale  
**

"No… no…" Luigi was on his knees. "No… he can't be… No… No…"

Everyone was surrounding Luigi, as he just suddenly appeared.

"Luigi! What's wrong?"

"Where were you?"

"What's this? Blood?"

"Oh my god!"

Luigi stood up, shivering. "No… he can't be…"

"Luigi, what's wrong?" asked Peach.

"Gaspar… He's dead…"

Everyone gasped.

"No way…" said Fox. "How…"

"It was Tabuu… No, part of their promise was for Tabuu to kill Gaspar…"

"And Gaspar just let him kill him? Just like that?" asked Jigglypuff anxiously.

Luigi nodded solemnly.

"They must have been really close friends… to do that…" said Samus.

"What kind of friend would let him kill him?" Captain Falcon asked angrily. "I mean, what the hell?"

"What the hell indeed…" said Luigi. However, his tone was no longer grave. "But… He knew this all along. He planned on giving me the reigns and keeping his promise to his best friends."

"Luigi, where are you going with this?" asked Samus.

"I'm saying…" said Luigi, now with a determined tone. "That we must not let Gaspar's sacrifice to waste. He was best friends with Tabuu, so close that he even let Tabuu kill him to keep us alive. His grip on the End of Time still exists, and…" Luigi gulped. "We have to take advantage of it. He gave us time, and he said that if we kept at our training… We can grow to face Tabuu and his forces. We have to move on."

There was murmuring among the crowd, but Luigi continued.

"This is our last challenge, and as much as I hate to admit it…" he closed his eyes dramatically. "We can't let one death alter our path. Do you hear me, smashers? We'll train in the depths of hell to avenge Gaspar and finish the task that Gaspar… no, the entire universe has given us! DO YOU HEAR ME??"

* * *

"Gaspar is dead! Why will you not go attack the End of Time, Master?" asked the Yellow Alloy.

"I have told you again and again…" said Tabuu, who was in his room. "He has kept his end of the promise. I must keep mine."

"But we can rule the universe if we…"

"That is ENOUGH! If you continue to argue with me, then you will face my full wrath!"

The alloys were quiet.

"As you wish, master…"

Tabuu sighed. "Well… We continue the waiting game. Gaspar, I am actually quite anxious to see if your words hold water or not… Will that green plumber rise to my power or not? It's got my blood boiling…"

He was bearing his teeth again. "But will he even be worthy of coming up here? The entire battlefield will be guarded by my best minions and my entire army of Wired Frames, led by my dark villains… That reminds me… Dark Metaknight!"

Metaknight appeared in the room, except he had a black shadow upon his round body. His mask was black, and his devilish wings were red.

"Yes, master?"

"Keep a stronger guard over our prisoners. Assign the second division Wire Frames to guard them, as I have a strong belief that they have been training individually."

"As you wish."

"Keep them alive, however. The clone on Lucas is almost completed, and I will need to begin on Marth."

"As you wish, master."

* * *

Marth was leaning on the wall, his Falchion in his hand. He was sweating from training his swordplay again, but he had no sparring partner.

Kirby was in the opposite cell as well, drained of energy from training his transformations. "Marth… how are you doing?"

Marth smirked. "I'd improve ten times faster if I had a sparring partner."

"Heh… I still need to improve my mirror form, since it'll definitely help out later."

"Kirby…" said Popo, who was in a cell next to Marth's. "I wonder when we're going to get out…"

"I don't know…" said Kirby.

Marth frowned. "It'll only be a matter of time before we perish in these cells. A month ago, Pichu has already perished from malnutrition…"

"Why, Pichu?" said Nana, crying. "He was just… a young baby…"

"We need to get out of here…" said Kirby. "As soon as possible."

"Nobody ever comes in here with keys anymore though," said Popo.

"I wonder why?" Marth sarcastically asked. "When a wired frame with the keys came in, and a certain puffball sucked both the wired frame AND the key into his body…"

"Hey! That was an accident!"

* * *

BAM! A hundred raised targets were shot down in an instant, thanks to Pit's Palutena Bow.

Pit closed his eyes, focusing his bow again. He fired four arrows in succession, concentrating completely on them as they began to circle around each other in the air.

_If it takes this much concentration to focus only four… I will need to reach at least ten…_

"Hey! Pit!"

"AH!" Pit lost his concentration and the four arrows flew into randomly wild directions. It was Samus right behind him.

"I need your help," said Samus.

"You require my assistance?" asked Pit. "I am very surprised. You are far more powerful than me, and yet…"

"Maybe so, but for all I know, I just blow things up mindlessly, if you haven't noticed me murdering Captain Falcon all day."

"…Please continue."

"Pit, I need you to train me in focusing my projectiles and controlling them. I saw you destroy all of those targets and I saw you control those arrows. I can fire several missiles into several targets at once, yeah, but I can't control their trajectories."

Pit sighed, lowering his bow. "Even I do not know completely myself… The power awakened within me while I battled Dark Samus in Tellius."

"What?"

"But allow me to explain," said Pit. "It may take much concentration and much dedication. You may learn it within a week, or you may waste your entire time here doing nothing. Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay."

* * *

"So about that last battle, Sonic…" said Captain Falcon. "I won that bet, didn't I?"

"Peh! Don't get so cocky!" said Sonic. "But I guess I'll help you… A green plumber guy told me he saw a scientist within the Battlefield."

"Wait, Luigi saw…"

"Yes, so I guess we all have common goals," said Sonic. "Here's a deal that I can propose. You… train me into making my punches stronger."

"Yeah, you're all frickin' speed, your punches have got no punches in them at all."

Sonic shook his head. "Hey, I'm complimenting you for once."

"Fuckin' god, fine."

"What's with you and cursing, by the way?" asked Sonic.

"Oh right, Samus girl, the hot girl, mind you, started blowing me up a bit for cursing so much, so I tried to cut down a little."

"…I'm saying that you curse a lot."

"What? I think I've fucking improved a lot!"

"…Yup, you do. But anyways, you'll be helping me, but aside from me helping you face these weirdos…"

"Yeah?"

"I'll pump into you all of the speed skills I have," said Sonic. "I'll make you second in speed only to me."

Captain Falcon pounded his fists together. "Sounds like a plan, except I won't be second to anyone."

Sonic smirked. "We'll see about that. First off… The Speed Break…"

* * *

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Link and Ganondorf were sparring with each other, Link having the upper hand. They were in a dreadlock, Link's swift sword versus Ganondorf's powerful axe.

SHING!

"All right, guys, it's my turn," said Young Link, walking up to the sparing pair. "It's already been three hours, and I never got a chance to spar yet."

"Already three hours?" gasped Link.

"Come on, little boy! This is nothing to me!" said Ganondorf.

"Says the guy with the triforce of power…" muttered Link. He switched places with Young Link, who then began to spar with Ganondorf.

"I see you're much like the older one," said Ganondorf, blocking a slash from Young Link.

"Not too bad, I guess," said Young Link.

"But…" Ganondorf began to push back. "You seem to be…"

BAM!

He shoved Young Link away with ease, blowing him to the ground.

"…Much weaker in the arms. The technique is alike, and you are faster, but…"

Young Link immediately jumped back on his feet. "Excuse me? I don't think I can stand being called weak!"

"Say, Zel…" said Link, now running in place next to her. "What are you going to do after all this is over?"

Zelda was closing her eyes. "…It's… much harder… To concentrate here…" she muttered.

"…What?"

"…What?" replied Zelda. "What were you asking?"

"…Did you just have a vision?"

"A vision? …Yes, I did…"

"What was it?" asked Link.

Zelda sighed. "I don't know… But I feel that… it is not Tabuu that Luigi will face, but a former ally. That is all I can say…"

"A former ally? How could that be?" asked Link. "We have to tell Luigi this!"

"No," said Zelda. "We can't. If we do, he will hold back, and the universe will be destroyed."

"But…"

"Please. Just be quiet," said Zelda. "Continue training."

"Mind if I join?" asked Ike, smirking.

"Nope. Link, I challenge you," said Young Link.

"That leaves me to the warrior," said Ganondorf, smirking.

CLANG!

* * *

"Luigi, shouldn't you be training?" asked Peach.

Luigi was sitting at a desk, drawing diagrams and writing down names on sheets of paper. "If we are to successfully penetrate the Battlefield," he answered. "We need a plan, and that's my job right now."

"But…"

"Don't worry, this is only during my resting time. I train my butt off with Yoshi, Peach, and I've seen what you've been doing with your secret activities. And honestly, I think it'll work out fine with the correct partner."

"Thank you! So… you've been what I've made and…"

Luigi nodded. "Of course… I have an idea. Why don't you train with Yoshi?"

"Yoshi?"

"He's a great partner with your skills, and you definitely aren't a slouch in real fighting as well."

"Well…"

Luigi wrote down more names on the sheet of paper. "It'll work out. Trust me."

* * *

TADA! The One-Month time jump has occurred.

Everyone has done as much training as they could and were standing before Luigi, who was now ready to explain his plan.

"…It's been a long month, guys…" he said. "But the time has finally come. I hope you've all had a great training session to face the toughest enemies yet."

"Oy! Luigi!" said Fox. "The month will end in another three hours! We better get a move on before Tabuu finally attacks us!"

"Right," said Luigi. "Tabuu will definitely spare no second to destroy all of us once the month is over. Therefore, we have to go over the plans right now, and engrave it within your minds."

"Plans? I prefer to just rush in and rape everyone!" said Captain Falcon.

"The only raping you'll do is being raped…" said Samus, blowing up Falcon casually.

"Right…" said Luigi. "We've been through so much, and I want to call out a few people that I've been with before we begin. Fox, will you come up here?"

Fox smirked, walking up to Luigi's side.

"Samus?"

Samus appeared afterwards.

"Captain Falcon, the infamous pervert."

"Hey, no need for the formalities!" said Captain Falcon, blowing kisses at the smashers. He got struck by a frying pan thrown by Peach.

"And last but not least, Jigglypuff."

"I'm here!" said Jigglypuff.

"Us five… we've been through this entire journey all this time," said Luigi. "We've survived all the trials that were thrown at us by the Ring of Darkness. We've conquered the top members. I know… I know that we will win. As Mario always said, goodness will always prevail over evil. So before we start, I want all of you, especially my loved ones…"

"Loved ones?"

"Scratch that… I mean, everyone here is loved by me! But anyways, I don't want any of you to die in this fight. Make sure that you do all you can to survive, as I can't bear to see another loved one die in front of me. Is that clear?"

"HELL YEAH!" cried Diddy Kong, shooting his fists up.

"WE'RE GONNA KICK SOME BUTT!" cried Wario.

"…Do I truly belong here?" Olimar asked politely.

Pit shook his head. "I don't know… I truly do not know with the lack of intelligence in some of our peers…"

"So…" said Luigi. "First off, we'll wait out the attack. You over there…" He pointed at a portion of the audience…

* * *

Hack: Before I start editing my previous chapters, I would really like it if all of you readers out there would message or review with your general comments on what could be improved with the story so far and what is great about it. It will all be taken into account during my revisions. I won't know yet if my revisions will completely change the story or not , but for new readers, I want the entire story, not just the point of where I am at, to be as enjoyable as possible.

But after reading over some of my older chapters, I **do** have an idea of which parts to expand more on and improve (cough, Cackletta and Ridley fights, cough) as my recent chapters are much more detailed than those, so if you want, you can go back to read the older chapters to see what changes have been made! I assure you, it will be worth it.

So… Please give constructive feedback, even if you never review! Thank you!


	103. Chapter 103: The Final War

Hack: All right, here's the next chapter! Don't think the true final fights are coming up yet, because this final arc is going to be the BIGGEST one, far longer than twenty chapters!

**Recap:** There is not much going on yet, except the final war is about to begin! This recap will be here for every chapter from now on due to so many things that will be happening, just so it will not be too confusing hopefully.

* * *

**Chapter 103: The Final War**

The Battlefield was massive. It looked like a huge floating island surrounding by a violet glass barrier, but the barrier itself is most certainly not as weak as glass. Surrounding it were several battleships whose sizes rivaled that of the Halberd. They were all approaching one destination: The End of Time. The portal was directly in front of them, and they were going to enter in an hour…

"Sir! Sir!" said a Wired Frame. "We are ready to perform the warp into the End of Time. Your orders, sir?"

A familiar tall knight in heavy armor looked down at his minion. "Enter. Have the tank ships move ahead first; the smashers will know about our attack by now, so they will counter. We will charge the death ray in the Battlefield. Who is manning the controls?"

"The Male Wire Frame."

"Send him a message that within my command, he will fire the death ray. We can easily wipe out the End of Time with this. I will, meanwhile, be waiting here. Get the defense squad here so we may defend the barrier controls; we must not allow them to destroy the energy barrier around the Battlefield."

"Sir, yes sir!" The wire frame then ran off to execute his orders.

"We shall see… We will destroy them in this one shot…"

* * *

"They're coming! Are you ready, Peppy? Krystal? Slippy" said Fox, manning his Arwing.

"Of course, I haven't been in these for years!" said Peppy, excited to get back into shape in his Arwing.

"Yes. Is Samus ready with her ship?" asked Krystal.

"She's going to take off five minutes after ours, so when there's more space and we've cleared out some of the enemy's battalion."

"Fox! I just want to say one thing!" said Slippy.

"Hm?"

"It's great to be back in the team, at least just this one last time. If only if Falco…"

"…What's done is done. I wish we had our ace pilot back…" said Fox, dropping his head shamefully. "But… We'll go."

The portal in front of them turned bright red.

"They're going to come through soon!" said Krystal. "I can sense it! We have to go now!"

"Okay! Starfox Team, take off!"

FOOM!

The four Arwings shot through the portal and into empty space. In front of them were the aforementioned battleships.

"Sir! The smashers have decided to take the initiative!" said the message Wire Frame. "They are attacking our ships! And one is down!" it continued to say to the knight as it watched one of the huge battleships go down by a bomb well-aimed by Krystal.

"Attack the ships! How many are there?!"

"We have spotted four! They are all…" The messenger then picked up its walkie-talkie. "Hello? What? Three ships downed?"

"Give me that," said the knight, snatching the walkie-talkie. "Give me all the data you have on the attackers… Yes… What? They're all Arwings? That means that one of the five is commanding them at the moment… This must be reported to the master at once! They must be the Starfox Team!"

The knight whirled around to the messenger. "You! Send another messenger into the Battlefield and give word to Tabuu that Fox is on the move already!"

"AHHHHHHH!!" The walkie-talkie screamed. There was an explosion heard, followed by static.

Outside the base, the four starfox members were having a lot of fun blowing up everything in sight.

"Man, this is nothing!" said Slippy, flipping around to dodge a bomb from the nearest battleship.

"Don't forget to do your barrel rolls!" said Peppy.

"We know!!" Fox, Krystal, and Slippy all said simultaneously, rolling their eyes.

"It should be about time for Samus to come…" said Slippy, looking at his watch. "We've cleared a third of the fleet here."

Through the portal behind them, Samus's ship appeared. "You guys doing okay?" Samus asked through her intercom.

"Perfect!" said Fox. "Krystal! Slippy! Peppy! Lure the ships' fire away from Samus's ship! I'll protect it myself! Go!"

The three Arwings shot off in different directions, away from Samus's ship. Fox's Arwing was hovering above Samus's.

"Not too comfortable, I'm guessing?" asked Fox.

"Not very, it's really clogged up in here, but… it'll work out if I get there."

"Right," said Fox. "And we'll have to break through for the next ten minutes. Can you handle it?"

"Of course."

Samus's ship shot forward, with Fox's Arwing in front of it. Another bomb was coming forward, but Fox's Arwing went in front of it and deflected it with a Barrel Roll. The third bomb from the side was about to hit the side of Samus's ship, but Samus spun out of the way.

"According to my map, we're another fifty miles away from the Battlefield," said Samus.

"Shit… This isn't looking good…" said Fox, noticing something ahead.

"What?"

"That," said Fox.

A black dragon appeared directly in front of them.

"We've got reinforcements now," said the messenger. "Dark Ridley was sent by the master to aid the battleships."

"Excellent, his power level exceeds ten thousand. I do not expect the Arwings nor Samus to even damage him," said the knight.

"Shit, it's Ridley!" cried Samus.

"Great to see you smashers…" said Dark Ridley. He was indeed Ridley, but instead his scales were completely pitch black rather than a dark shade of violet. His eyes were blood red and his claws were even longer. He threw a swipe at Fox and Samus's ships, throwing them off. A shockwave from his slash threw them off course.

"Crap! We have to get through him!" said Fox.

"Not really," said Samus. "We just need to distract him for the next five minutes… Beating him won't hurt though."

"I can't get the entire team back to aid us though, they're off distracting the other ships," explained Fox.

"Did I say we needed them? No."

"Right. Let's do it," said Fox. He fired his blue lasers directly at Ridley's chest, but Dark Ridley blocked them with his scaly arms. Samus followed, firing her ship missiles at Ridley's face.

"You think those will work on me?" hissed Dark Ridley as he literally swallowed the missiles! He spat them back at Samus, who spun out of the way.

* * *

There were almost no smashers left in the End of Time. All save for three… and their armies.

"Are we all ready?" asked Ike. "Greil Mercenaries?"

"We're right with you," said Titania.

Soren flexed his wrists. "Ready when you all are."

"I think… This may go well," said Olimar, standing beside his army of pikmin.

"Oh yeah, baby!" said Captain Falcon. "My ship's… the fastest of all!"

"But it's got no firepower," said Ike.

"Which is why the others are fighting right now," said Olimar.

"Shut up!" said Falcon. "So… How much time left, little guy?"

Olimar looked at his watch. "Hm… Three minutes… Then we take off. The Blue Falcon is ready?"

"Of course, dude!"

* * *

"Shields are down forty percent…" said Fox.

"Mine are down by thirty," said Samus.

"You have to survive Samus. You're the one that carries out everything!"

"Right. Hang on, Fox!" said Samus, avoiding a plasma beam shot from Dark Ridley.

"Peh! Not even a scratch on me!" said Dark Ridley. "Watch this!" He held both hands up, carrying blue orbs in them.

"Crap… I think I know what this is…" said Samus. "Blow them up! Now!"

"Those orbs?"

"YES!"

Fox immediately fired charged laser shots at the orb in Ridley's right hand while Samus aimed her missiles at the left one, but they were about to blow up…

"Ha! Too late! This will finish you all off!" said Ridley as he was about to clash them together.

"RIDLEY! RETURN TO THE BATTLEFIELD NOW! MASTER'S ORDERS!" The knight's voice boomed in Dark Ridley's ear.

"What?" Ridley ceased his attack. He swatted away another missile from Samus. "Orders from the master? But I can finish them off!"

"DO NOT WORRY, I WILL BE ENOUGH!" said the knight.

"Peh! If you can even get into the battlefield, I'll crush you there…" said Dark Ridley, teleporting away.

"Phew…" panted Fox.

"Those orbs would've blown up everything around him," said Samus. "Luckily he left… It's about time for Captain Falcon!"

FOOM!

"YEEEHAWWWWWWWWW!!" Falcon cried as his Blue Falcon zoomed past Samus and Fox's ships.

"There it is! The plan succeeded!" said Samus. Her entire ship cheered, which was carrying everyone else.

"Not yet!" said Fox. "Falcon, Olimar, and Ike have to deactivate the shield, then we can all break through!"

The Blue Falcon reached the base of the Battlefield, the only portion not within the energy field. On it was a dark building, undoubtedly with the controls for the barrier.

"All right, let's go!" said Falcon.

"We have a problem," said Olimar, pointing down at the building. Surrounding it were hundreds of wired frames.

"That's okay, you've both got your armies!" said Falcon. "Go!"

Falcon's ship hovered directly above the base, dropping off Olimar and Ike and their armies.

"Olimar! You stay here and hold off the enemies' army!" said Ike.

"Roger that!" said Olimar, commanding a fleet of over ten thousand pikmin. The wire frames surrounded him, but the pikmin around him jumped on them, taking them down with their swarm attacks.

"Greil Mercenaries, MOVE OUT! Clear out the passage! Rhys, stay behind Gatrie and Titania! Soren, stick with me and cover me from behind! We'll both be heading for those controls!"

"HYAAAA!!" Everyone cried as they collided with each other. Ike and Soren were plowing through the wired frames in their way with the Ragnell and wind magic.

"Damn, I wish I could be down there…" muttered Captain Falcon, still flying around in his Blue Falcon.

Samus's face appeared in Falcon's intercom. "How're things going?"

"Olimar and Ike are kicking ass down there! They'll be fine!" said Falcon. "Where should I go?"

"Just evade enemy attack and get back to where Fox and I are!" said Samus. "Your Blue Falcon can't fight, can it?"

"Hell no, it's for racing, not shooting!"

"Right, then get back here!"

Ike and Soren finally made it to the dark shack at the end of the base.

"Here we are," said Ike, opening the door. It was pitch black inside, and neither of them could see a thing, nor hear anything over the fighting noise behind.

"Torch!" Soren cried, holding up a stave. The room instantly lit up from the stave, and they were in a long hall with a few doorways.

"Tch… We better start searching these rooms. Soren, you start at that door in this side of the hall, I'll start here. Give a shout when you find something."

"Right," said Soren as they went off in their respective directions.

Ike was in a room filled with computers. "A research area… These are… computers? That's what Luigi told me." Ike began to search around the computers, but they were all just computers with keyboards… "I have a feeling this isn't it." Ike noticed one larger computer that was red rather than black; the heading above it read, "BASIC RESEARCH ON DARK ENTITIES"

"Dark… Entities…" Ike pressed a large key on the keyboard and the computer showed an essay.

'THE DARK ENTITIES – AN INTRODUCTION

The Dark entities are a project led by the master to create a group of beings mimicking the physical and mental attributes of a villain and amplifying the physical power over tenfold via the Endowment of Exigency. They are virtually more powerful clones of the original beings, but they bear no memory of what the original carried. Because they are blessed by the Endowment of Exigency, they are also trained to unleash Ren Kiu. There are currently sixteen entities in the Battlefield, and all of their powers exceed those of the now-deceased Metaknight, excluding his own Ren Kiu power. The Dark Entities are ranked…'

"And Rank Twelve of Sixteen is directly behind you," said a deep voice. Ike stopped reading and whirled around to see the Black Knight right behind him.

"You!"

"You? I do not know what you are talking about."

Ike recalled what the report said, and remembered that this Black Knight does not know Ike.

"Well then…" said Ike. "You're the Black Knight, I'm guessing?"

"Correction – The **Dark** Black Knight, or the Dark Knight," said the Dark Knight as he drew the Dark Alondite.

"I've defeated you before…" said Ike. "And I'm going to beat you again!"

"I do not know what you mean by again, but… Our powers rival those of the second-in-rank Ring of Darkness member. Come!"

They clashed swords…

* * *

"Is this it?" Soren asked himself. "Ike hasn't come out of that room yet…" He was standing before a huge control panel with a large computer screen in front. "How do I… turn it off? Ike! Ike!! …IKE!!"

There was no response. "…He must be busy… I must get on with this task. Maybe… This could work… _Elwind!_"

Green blades of wind shone from the ceiling, cutting the cords from the computer monitor. Suddenly, the entire room turned dark, losing power. Soren looked around. "…Did that work?"

* * *

"The Barrier's down! Ike got it!" said Fox as he noticed the violet barrier disappearing. "Samus! Get ready to speed through!"

"Right!"

"Peppy! Krystal! You two clear the way for us to get to the Battlefield!" said Fox. "Slippy, you follow the two of us to cover us."

"Why me?" groaned Slippy.

"Because you always need my saving…" sighed Fox.

"True, true," murmured Peppy and Krystal.

The ships zoomed off towards the vulnerable battlefield, where there were more wired frames getting ready for battle.

"Luigi, you got the smashers ready?" Samus asked through the intercom. "I'm going to let you all go when we're above…"

"Of course," Luigi replied amid the crowd of smashers.

"Peppy! Get the teleporter ready, so my Arwing gets transported back safely!" said Fox.

"Got it!" said Peppy, pressing buttons rapidly in his Arwing.

Fox dropped out of his Arwing while Samus opened the hull of her ship, releasing all of the smashers led by Luigi. They all landed on the wide violet battlefield, and ahead was a tall looming tower where Tabuu waited. Between them were the wired frames.

"You all ready? LET'S GOO!!" Luigi cried.


	104. Chapter 104: The Dark Entities

Hack: Very late update, apologies. I had lots of summer stuff to do, but now that summer's over, I can work on this more. How ironic; I can't write in the summer, yet I can in the school year. Weird… Well, enjoy!

**Recap:** Ike has currently confronted the Dark Black Knight in his search for the barrier control panel and is unable to escape. Soren was able to de-activate the barrier, however, allowing the rest of the smashers to break through and land on the battlefield. The Starfox Team are still fighting off the battleships, except for Fox, who departed from his Arwing while Samus released the rest of the smashers.

* * *

**Chapter 104: The Dark Entities**

"You're… much… stronger…" said Ike, leaning on his sword.

"You are nothing. I cannot believe my light counterpart was unable to defeat this child…" said the Dark Knight, swatting Ike's Ragnell away with another swipe. He knocked Ike away again with his fist.

"Ugh…" Ike groaned, spitting out blood. He stood up and charged again. Their swords clanged for a moment, but then the Dark Alondite easily overpowered Ike's Ragnell and blew him away for the fourth time.

Soren entered the room and gasped. "Ike! That must be…"

"Soren!" Ike cried, standing on his feet again. "Get out of here! Did you unlock the barrier?"

"Yes, I did!"

"Get out, and get Olimar and the Greil Mercenaries into the Battlefield!"

"What?"

"Do it! That's an order!"

"Who gave you permission to leave?" asked the Dark Knight as he sent forth a shockwave at Soren.

Ike stood in between them, blocking the blast with the Ragnell. Ike was knocked down on his back again, but this brief second allowed Soren to escape with haste.

"Hmph. No matter, I will deal with him after I am through with you," said the Dark Knight.

"I'm going to stop you right here, Dark Knight," said Ike. "Because you are the remaining memory of my father's death, and I'm going to avenge him completely."

"I would like to see you try."

CLANG!

Ike and the Dark Knight had their swords locked again. This time, Ike held back his strength, bringing his sword back along with the Alondite. Ike whirled around, dodging the Alondite, and shot the Ragnell forward.

CLANG!

The Ragnell harmlessly bounced off of the Dark Knight's helm. Ike was staring at his sword in disbelief while the Dark Knight drew his Alondite back…

BAM!

There was a huge gash on Ike's stomach as he was blown into the wall, blood trickling down his head from the powerful blow.

"You cannot even scratch me with a blade so dull," said the Dark Knight.

"But… This was the only blade that could pierce through the armor of the Black Knight…" said Ike. "What could go wrong?"

"You are weak; the blade is nothing if its user is weak!" said the Dark Knight. "It is clear who the superior warrior is! Now die!"

"Weak?"

Ike looked up to his enemy, his Ragnell glowing bright blue. "You call me weak?"

CLANG!

He blocked a powerful downward slash from the Dark Knight, gritting his teeth. "This is the blade of my father, Greil! If you insult… my swordsmanship…" said Ike.

FOOM!

He shoved the Dark Knight away from him. "Then you're insulting my father's blade, which you have always respected!"

"Respected?"

"He was always your teacher, Zelgius!"

"Zelgius is my true name, then? I do not know what teacher this is you speak of, but… If the Black Knight could not defeat your father, I most certainly can defeat you all."

"Then… we have to see if the student defeats the teacher!" said Ike, pointing his heavy Ragnell at the Black Knight.

"You think you can even scratch my armor?" laughed the Dark Knight. "Ha! Try me!"

Ike charged…

* * *

The entire group of smashers was resting in front of a huge drawbridge. Luigi was leading everyone: Peach, Bowser, Geno, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Yoshi, both Links, Zelda, Ganondorf, Fox, Captain Falcon, Pikachu, Ash, Jigglypuff, Ness, Isaac, Pit, and Sonic. The only ones missing were Samus, Ike, and Olimar.

"Are you sure this barrier'll hold for the night?" asked Young Link, eyeing the blue barrier around them.

"It should," said Zelda. "The love of a goddess is ever so powerful."

"It's a good idea to keep someone at watch, taking turns at least," said Yoshi, throwing in his two cents.

A day had already passed and the smashers had fought their way halfway towards the tower in which Tabuu rested.

"How about me?" asked Ness. "I can sense when someone'll come."

"Wait, Ness," said Luigi. "I need you to rest. There's something I have planned for the next day that you and Pit have to do."

"All right then, I'll keep watch," said Yoshi. "I'll switch out after a few hours."

Peach looked up into the dark space around them. "I hope the others can get back safely…"

"Well… we're going to have to separate even more with my plans…" said Luigi.

"Plans?"

"Here… I might as well let everyone know what we're going to do next. There's a drawbridge that we can cross only if we lower it. By the time we enter the Battlefield, the villains will have lifted it to prevent us from entering," explained Luigi.

"So… How do we lower it?" asked Fox.

"Simple. During my trip with Gaspar, the base of the bridge was between two towers. These towers probably hold the switches to lower the bridge. The entrances, as I remember…" said Luigi, drawing a diagram to show the entire crew. "These entrances are far from the base of the bridge, though, and returning to the bridge will use much time. We can't spare too many smashers for these towers, so two smashers will have to go to each tower and lower the part of the bridge. This job I leave to Ness and Pit individually."

"Me? Well I guess it makes sense that we shouldn't lower the bridge in groups," said Ness. "As the entrances are far from the base of the bridge, it will take a while to get back to the base of the bridge, as the entrance is, I'm assuming, the exit as well. We want as many smashers for the actual center of the Battlefield, while the others that are given this task will have to try to catch up. Am I right, Luigi?"

"Spot on, Ness. However, I don't think you and Pit will have to really catch up to help the main force out. These are two towers, and if we have snipers from them, they can definitely take out a portion of the enemy force. You get what I'm saying?"

"Ah… I see why you've selected me," said Pit.

"Me too," said Ness. "Pit can activate one tower while I take care of the other. The main force will then head for the bridge, which will hopefully be lowered by then?"

"Yep. Are you sure you can handle the enemies there?" asked Luigi.

"Of course, we probably won't be meeting any big enemies there anyways," said Ness.

"Great! Now that's taken care of, there's also a prison before the base of the bridge, but it's well out of our way. We'll need to spare a few smashers to help our friends."

"Gwah ha ha! I'm a pro at this stuff! Just leave it to me!" said Wario.

"You'll need to be fast, Wario, are you sure?" asked Sonic. "It's not going to be all stealth, man. I think we should let me go ahead."

"As a matter of fact, why don't you both go?" asked Luigi. "Just don't get into any fights."

"Fights? Who's going to get into any fights?" asked Sonic.

Wario let out a big fart.

The smashers continued to rest. They were fatigued from their hours of fighting through wired frames, but luckily nobody suffered any wounds.

After another few hours, most of the smashers were asleep. Geno, Ganondorf, Isaac, and Wario were up playing cards, while Luigi and Yoshi were both awake, talking while keeping watch.

"So…" said Yoshi, glancing at Ganondorf who only got a pair in Texas Hold 'Em. "The plan so far is to send Ness and Pit off to lower the drawbridge, while Wario and Sonic head off to free the prisoners?"

"Yeah, that's the plan. I'm worried about the others though…" said Luigi.

"Hm?"

"Ike and his mercenaries should be back by now. Samus is off fending off everyone, and the entire Starfox Team is taking on the Battlefield's battalion."

"Well, well, speak of the devil…" said Yoshi, pointing out of the barrier.

The Greil Mercenaries were outside the barrier, with Soren leading them. Titania was on her horse, carrying…

"Ike? Isn't that Ike's body?" gasped Luigi as he got up to get out of the barrier.

"Wait, Luigi!" called Yoshi. "You can't get back in here without contact with someone inside!"

"Then hold my hand and stay in!" said Luigi. He popped his body out of the barrier, with his right arm inside, holding Yoshi's hand. "You guys! Hurry! Grab my hand!"

"Luigi!" said Soren. "What are you… Where'd you come from?"

"Just get in here before any enemies notice!"

Luigi dragged all of the mercenaries in. Rhys was still tending to Ike's wounds. "What happened?"

"I don't know… These wounds are massive…" said Rhys. "Ike will have to rest for…"

"Ike fought the Black Knight," said Soren.

"WHAT? I thought he was dead!"

"He is…" murmured Ike, lying on the ground. "But… Tabuu… He made… Clones… of rivals… Dark Clones… Stronger… Name is… Dark Knight now…"

Dark Clones. This does not bode well for the smashers, Luigi thought.

"They're called… the Dark Entities… All stronger than… Metaknight… Sixteen of them…"

"What? All stronger than Metaknight?" gasped Luigi. He glanced over at Yoshi, who nodded at the sleeping Fox.

"It took Fox all of his power to defeat Metaknight… To face sixteen of these beings…"

"They can't be as bad as Alex," said Isaac, leaving his poker game. "Just lost all of my shares… Apparently Wario had a Royal Straight."

"Well yeah, otherwise we'd be dead by now," said Luigi.

"But I don't understand… We've only encountered one then. If there are fifteen others…" said Yoshi.

"They're all at key spots, in the roads ahead," said Luigi. "We have to be cautious."

"Leave the Dark Knight… To me…" said Ike. "I can handle him… tomorrow…"

"What are you talking about?" asked Soren. "You almost got killed!"

"…He'll see… the arm of Greil… The true arm… He said he'd be… At the drawbridge…"

Luigi sighed. "Great. We can't get through unless Ness and Pit finish their jobs AND we defeat the Dark Knight. We don't have time to have all of us fight him at once."

"I have an idea," said Isaac. "Leave him to Ike."

"WHAT?"

"I concur," said Soren. "When Ike's got his mind set on something… He won't stop."

Luigi sighed. "Well… You better heal up then. Tomorrow's going to be rough. And… good job on deactivating the barrier."

"No problem," said Ike before he fell asleep.

"Rhys, I want you to put your full effort into healing Ike," said Luigi. "I'm going to sleep. And Yoshi…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't overdo it. Wake up Isaac next when it's his turn to be the watchman."

* * *

"There's the bridge, just as Luigi said…" said Ness, pointing at it. "And the two towers too…"

"Leave the right one to me," said Pit.

"Then I'll take the left," said Ness. The bridge was still miles away, but the path was about to split into three, the side ones leading to the towers.

"I'll leave them to you then," said Luigi, nodding. "Don't die out there."

"No way!" exclaimed Ness.

"We will not die," replied Pit.

Ness and Pit left in their respective ways while the rest dashed down the center, taking out the wired frames in their way.

"Wario and Sonic are off to rescue them…" said Peach.

"Force and Speed," said Luigi.

"Well with some red essence… I can fucking break any prison wall!" said Bowser.

"We don't have any with us though, do we?" asked Geno, smirking.

"…I guess not…"

"This is it!" said Captain Falcon, who was at the bridge first, kicking away more wired frames.

"When will Samus be rejoining us?" asked Fox, firing his blasters at the surrounding wired frames.

"No clue," said Luigi. "She'll catch up though. I'm confident in her power."

* * *

"PSI ROCKIN ALPHA! ROCKIN ALPHA!" Ness cried, clearing away an open path for him to run through. He ran through, batting away a wired frame here and there with his long bat. "There is it! The tower! I can get there faster with… this!"

Ness closed his eyes for a second while the wired frames closed in on him. "PSI… Teleport Alpha!"

Ness zoomed forward as fast as Captain Falcon could run; his speed plowed through all of the wired frames. In a few seconds, he was already at the tower in front of him with plenty of energy to spare.

"Excellent!"

CLANG!

He knocked down the metal door with his bat, just to see more wired frames about to jump on him.

"PSI Shield Beta!"

The wired frames that were about to pile on him bounced off of a shield, lightly damaging Ness but not doing too much damage. Ness continued to run through, running up the spiral staircase and plowing through the wired frames.

"These guys are just as easy as the time we fought the hands!" said Ness.

"As easy? I think you underestimate us!" said a wired frame nearby. He was about to jump at Ness when Ness ducked underneath him. The frame was above him when Ness slammed his hands into the frame's bottom, shooting him upwards. Ness immediately whirled around with his leg out, knocking out the three frames behind him. He was finally at the very top of the tower, and the control panel was before him.

"There we go…" Ness scanned the panel before him briefly, then he slammed the big red button. The first lock on the bridge was gone. "Great! Now time to get… back…"

KABOOM!

Ness instinctively rolled to the side to avoid a huge bomb. Before him was a huge violet crab-like machine equipped with razor claws and huge cannons. Riding in it was…

"Porky…" said Ness.

"That's DARK Porky, you punk! Ranked sixteen of the dark entities!" said Dark Porky. "And how do you already know my name?"

"Easy. You always try to stop me and kill me as your 'eternal rival.' Easy to say, you always sucked, so you always got the beating."

"Really? My light counterpart was this weak? Then you must be my smasher enemy! Well maybe you'll get the beating this time!"

Ness drew his bat. "Well I can't really help the others until I take care of you… I don't think you're going to let me leave quietly either… Bring it!"

* * *

Pit reached the base of his tower; he was able to slice the wired frames apart with his bow while running. He sliced the metal door open to meet several wired frames about to jump him…

"Wow!" Pit jumped back to avoid the piling of wired frames, then he fired a curved arrow that shot through all of the wired frames in front of him, destroying all of them. He made his way up the steps, shooting arrow after arrow at any frame he saw in the way.

He reached the control panel some time after Ness reached his.

"It seems like Ness has already completed his task…" said Pit. "Then why is he not attacking the enemies below?"

Pit shrugged as he walked to the control panel for the second lock. "This must be it…" He slammed his hand on the big red button and the second lock was gone. "Excellent! Then… I may aid my friends!"

"I'm afraid not, young one…"

Pit whirled around to see a naked snake-like women that looked like she came from hell. Her skin was completely black and wrinkled, and her hair was braided as if they were snakes.

"Medusa!"

"DARK Medusa! Ranked fourteen! And you must be Pit, the one my light counterpart was unable to defeat. Well then, we shall see who will prevail this time!"

"Light will always prevail, Medusa, and engulfing yourself more into the depths of hell… will only further ensure your defeat!" cried Pit.

"Gwah ha ha! I believe you are mistaken! We shall see who is in the right!"

* * *

"This is it? The prison?" said Wario, entering a dark dungeon. "Damn, I can't see a thing!"

"…Who is it?"

"Hm… Don't know that voice… Let's see… I can't see anything… Can any of you guys light up this darn place?"

"Sure can! Transform… FIRE!!"

FOOM!

There was a fire in the very middle of the room, but it didn't spread. The room was instantly lit up, however, to reveal several familiar faces behind the bars: Marth, Kirby, Popo, and Nana.

"Hey! I'm Wario, the guy with the smashers! The smart, awesome thief!"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," said Kirby, with Sonic shrugging Wario off. "Just get us out of here, we're resting from training."

"…Training?"

"What else do you think we'd do behind these bars for the past year?" asked Marth.

"But you need the keys to open these bars, these aren't normal bars," groaned Popo.

"Luigi told me there'd be five guys in here… Where's the fifth dude?" asked Wario.

The four others looked at each other. "Pichu?" asked Kirby. "He… passed away. His body couldn't handle the torture in these jails, so they took his body away."

"WHAT? He died? What the fuck?"

"But we can't keep looking back at the past," said Marth. "We've got time to mourn later. There's a black key that'll get us all out of here, if you can just find it in this jail cell…"

"Will do!" said Wario, leaving the room. Sonic sped around the room to look for the keys, but he couldn't find it.

"Wait… I've got it right here…" said a voice familiar to one.

"Whoa!" Sonic bumped into the person's large stomach. "Who are you?"

"Wait! Can it be…" said Kirby.

* * *

"The drawbridge… It's down!" said Yoshi.

"Who's that?" Diddy Kong pointed.

It was the Dark Knight, waiting for Ike.

Luigi nodded to Ike. "You sure you want to do this?"

Ike smirked. "I'm healed enough… for this. HYAAA!!" He charged. All of the smashers rushed past the Dark Knight as Ike clashed swords with him.

"Back for the rematch?" asked the Dark Knight.

"This time… will be different!" said Ike, confidently.


	105. Chapter 105: Dark Knight

Hack: All right, the big fights are finally starting. First up is Ike's, which unfortunately will NOT finish for a few chapters, for reasons you shall see. Also, for you brawlers out there, you'll be seeing a lot of familiar moves… Enjoy!

**Recap:** The smashers took a rest for the night, then resumed their assault with a plan involving Ness and Pit activating both sides of the drawbridge. The remaining smashers cross the bridge, with Ike holding off the Dark Knight. When Ness and Pit are about to aid the smashers from their towers, however, they are stopped by Dark Porky and Dark Medusa. Meanwhile, Wario and Sonic find the dungeons to find Marth, Kirby, Popo, and Nana (Pichu had passed away, unfortunately). They are unable to find the key to unlock their prison cells when someone familiar, at least to Kirby, comes in the scene…

* * *

**Chapter 105: Dark Knight**

The Dark Alondite and the Ragnell clashed again. The Dark Knight easily overpowered Ike, shoving him away. The wired frames encircled them, watching the duel.

"Hmph. I see no difference this time, little boy," said the Dark Knight, pointing his sword down.

"No difference…" muttered Ike. "Yeah right."

He shot a blue shockwave at the knight, who blocked with his sword. Ike was crouching right below the Dark Knight during his moment of vulnerability, knocking him up with his fist. Ike pointed his sword up, about to throw it, when the Dark Knight threw his own sword down at Ike! Ike could only hold his sword up rather than shoot it to block the Alondite.

The Dark Alondite crushed Ike underneath its weight. Ike staggered to the side before it could break through the Ragnell.

_What's wrong? The Ragnell is the only blade that can combat the Alondite!_

"I have the Ragnell, but I can't damage him for some reason. Is that what you're thinking?" asked the Dark Knight. "The power lies not within the sword, but…"

BAM!

"WITHIN THE USER HIMSELF!" he yelled, plowing Ike through the surrounding Wired Frames.

"Ugh!" Ike spat out blood as he used the Ragnell to prop himself up.

_The User himself?_

CLANG!

Ike blocked a slash, just to be blown away again. His wounds from yesterday reopened from the shock of the impact, and Ike cried out in pain.

"The edges are weak, because you are weak! You, one of the smashers? Despicable! I expected a more powerful enemy!" said the Dark Knight, blowing Ike away again. "And you! Your father? If his son is this weak…"

_I'm weak? That's right… I'm fighting to show him Greil's arm… But…_

* * *

"_Ha! Is that all you've got boy?" asked Greil as he knocked away a young blue-haired boy._

"_Ugh! I'm going to grow up and join your mercenaries!" said the boy._

"_Heh, well you'll have to get past me first!"_

_The boy charged at Greil and attacked with his wooden sword, but Greil knocked him away with ease again._

"_One day, you'll have to take over," said Greil. "And when that day comes… You better be strong."_

"_I'll grow up to beat you, dad!"_

_BAM!_

_He was powerful… Perhaps too powerful… Especially when Lehran's Medallion… It had made him berserk… Berserk enough to take down several dozen soldiers by himself… Berserk enough to kill his wife before she tore the medallion away from him…_

Ike thought back, and all he remembered was blood. He remembered seeing this all… He remembered seeing his father slay his mother. He shuddered.

_I have to show him… How strong I am… The Ragnell doesn't matter. I need to beat him with my own skills… My own power…_

_My mistake was relying on the sword, and not myself._

_Father… You're proud of me… right?_

* * *

BAM!

Ike knocked the Dark Knight back a few steps with his Ragnell, which was now glowing blue with radiant power.

"What?"

"Now I know," said Ike, ignoring his wounds. "I made the mistake of relying on the Ragnell too much. I always thought, the Ragnell should be able to pierce your armor and combat the Alondite. But now… If I use my own power…

I can defeat you!"

CLANG!

They were in a dreadlock again, except for once the Dark Knight was not winning!

_No!_ thought the Dark Knight. _I can't overpower him now! I must retreat!_

But it was too late. Ike grabbed the collar of the Dark Knight's armor, digging his breaking fingernails into the armor. Ike briefly dug his sword into the ground, leaving it there, and…

BAM!

Ike's fist collided with the Dark Knight's face, sending him flying up. Ike's fist was bleeding, but he shrugged it off.

"_AETHER!!_"

Ike threw his sword up, but the Dark Knight was ready. He stopped the spinning Ragnell with the Alondite and knocked it down, back to the ground.

"_ECLIPSE!!"_

Ike rolled underneath the powerful, overhead blue swing, catching his sword with both hands.

"HYAH!!"

With both hands, Ike slammed his sword on the Dark Knight's back, cracking the armor. The Dark Knight grunted under the weight of the Ragnell, whirling around to retaliate.

CLANG!

Ike was barely holding the Ragnell with one hand when the Dark Knight blew it away.

"Hmph! So your sword was light before, but now it is sharper and much heavier, meaning…"

Ike dashed back to grab his sword.

"…You must carry your sword with both hands because it is so heavy, thus decreasing your speed!"

_Crud… He found out…_

Ike was holding the Ragnell with both hands again. The Dark Knight sent a red shockwave at Ike, who dashed to the side. Another shockwave was at his side, curving to hit him. Ike held his sword out to the side to block it, but once he blocked it, one of his hands left the sword because he was holding it out to the side, knocking the Ragnell out of his other hand.

The Dark Knight was upon him again. "You should know the consequences of transforming your own sword!" he yelled, about to slice Ike's head off. "Know your limits!"

Ike reacted instantly, leaning back so far that he literally lost his balance and fell on the ground! However, the Alondite flew over him harmlessly, completely missing him.

"Ha… ha…" said Ike, grabbing the Ragnell with both hands, holding it out in front of him in a defensive stance.

"In order to fight against my power, you sacrifice your speed and versatility for more power!" said the Dark Knight.

BAM!

Ike successfully blocked a slash, about to overpower the Dark Knight, but the Dark Knight shot his leg forward, kicking Ike in the stomach and blasting him into the wall.

"Hmph. Pathetic swordsman."

"Pathetic?" Ike climbed out of the rubble. "You're calling my skills… pathetic? I'll show you! Prepare yourself!"

"Huh?"

BAM!

The Dark Knight was instantly pushed back by a very fast horizontal slash; Ike was instantly in front of the Dark Knight!

"What is this speed?"

BAM! BAM! Ike first slammed his left fist into the Dark Knight's chest, pushing him back another step. Ike took another step forward, kneeing him with his left knee. His right arm came down, holding the Ragnell without the aid of the left arm…

KABOOM!

There was a big gash on the Dark Knight's chest; he had moved away just in time to avoid the big damage of the Ragnell.

"What?" The Dark Knight just noticed Ike carrying the sword with one hand.

His right arm was strained right now, and constantly in pain. Ike gritted his teeth, but his right arm was still strong enough to swing it around faster than with both hands.

"Now then…" said Ike. "I will have to finish you off quickly."

"I would like to see that happen," said the Dark Knight. "According to scanners, my power level exceeds yours fivefold."

"Fivefold? There must be something wrong with your scanner then," said Ike, sheathing his sword. His right arm was still on the sheathed Ragnell.

"This attack again? Except this time you've prepared your stance…"

"I call this… The Quick Draw."

Ike simply stood there, staring at the Dark Knight. The Dark Knight had his Alondite ready as well, ready to react.

A minute passed. Two minutes passed. The wired frames were staring in anticipation, waiting for whoever will attack…

* * *

"So…" said a wired frame. "Now that they broke in… What're we supposed to do?"

The other one shrugged. "Dunno. Our forces all died, the one commanding us is fighting at the drawbridge. All the smashers made it through…"

"The dark entities can take care of them," said a third wired frame. "They're all stronger than our second-in-command Ring of Darkness member after all!"

"True that, true that," said the first one. "They are no match; that Fox was barely able to defeat Lord Metaknight. How can they defeat our Lord Tabuu?"

"And they will be forced to fight through at least five," said the second.

"Why?" asked the first and third. Four more wired frames pointed at the first three, joining in.

"Well inside the actual castle, each Dark Entity in it carries a key. The smashers will have to get all five keys to get into the top, and they're all magically enforced, so you can't force your way through! Imagine that!"

A fourth wired frame, one of the ones that joined in, said confidently, "Furthermore, all of the Arwings have been taken out," she said. "Samus's gunship too."

"Really? I'm the messenger, so… I'll have to report this to one of the Dark Entities?"

"I guess," said a fifth wired frame. The second one, the messenger, left hurriedly to search for a Dark Entity. The first one sighed.

"Well at least things really are looking up," he said to the five wired frames around him.

"You guys look strange though," said the third one. "Are you injured? You aren't walking along with the Wired Frame code… The Lord Alloys are going to destroy you, you know, so I advice you change your posture and stuff."

The other four looked at each other and nodded.

"Sorry," said one of them, now revealing an arm cannon.

Another one was carrying a blaster, pointing it at the other's head. "But we can't let you live now."

KABOOM!

* * *

Ike and the Dark Knight were still waiting. Ten minutes had passed.

FOOM!

The Dark Knight was barely able to react; Ike dashed forward so quickly while drawing his sword that he knocked the Alondite aside.

Ike slammed the blunt side of his sword into the Dark Knight's chin, blowing him upwards. Ike then threw his sword up…

"AETHER!"

The sword was spinning, striking the Dark Knight's body several times. Ike was at his height, catching the Ragnell, and landed one powerful downward blow on him.

KABOOM!

The Dark Knight was smashed into the ground, with Ike at his side.

"There… You know the difference in our skill…" said Ike, turning around to catch up with the smashers.

"…Not bad… You are very powerful…" said the Dark Knight, standing up. Ike whirled around, with an expression of disbelief.

"No way…" gasped Ike.

"But not powerful enough! _LUNA!_"

Ike blocked the blow from the Dark Knight, but the Alondite easily blew away the Ragnell, slicing Ike's stomach.

"UGH!" Ike cried, spitting out a pool of blood.

The Dark Knight was looking down upon Ike again. "Admittedly, you gave a better fight than before, but you are still a weakling!"

"Not yet…"

"Hm?"

"There's still… My father's weapon…"

Ike brought his left hand to his back and drew a massive axe, even heavier than the Ragnell. The golden axe fell with a thud on the ground, but Ike held it at the tip of the handle, holding it forward. Both his right and left arms were ripping apart from the weight, but Ike refused to listen to his body.

"What? Is that… the Urvan? The legendary Axe? How does such a little runt like you possess it?" asked the Dark Knight.

"Because this little runt is the son of Gawain," Ike said proudly. "The most powerful man I have ever known. The one that led the Greil Mercenaries… The one who destroyed his hands because of his blame… The one who cared for his children and loved his wife… The greatest man ever!"

"Nice speech… I shall test that axe then…" said the Dark Knight.

Ike held up both the Ragnell and the Urvan, his arm muscles ripping apart. "Try me."

BAM!

Ike blocked the Dark Knight, blowing him away. He used Quick Draw again to dash up to the Dark Knight.

"_ECLIPSE!_"

"_ERUPTION!_"

Ike raised both the Urvan and the Ragnell, smashing them into the ground just as the Dark Knight was in front of him, the Alondite glowing blue again.

KABOOM!

Ike's weapons blew up with fire. The Dark Knight's armor was completely burned as he was sent flying up. Ike, his weapons still on fire, dashed up right where the Dark Knight was vulnerable…

"**GREAT…**" said Ike, hitting the Dark Knight with an upwards slash with the Ragnell.

"…**AETHER!!**"

Ike spun continuously in the air, slashing the Dark Knight repeatedly with both the Urvan and the Ragnell.

BAM! CLANG! BAM! CLANG! BAM! CLANG! BAM! CLANG!

The Dark Knight was repeatedly burned with each hit. The Urvan cracked his armor more and more, dealing blows of might power. The sharp edge of the Ragnell pierced through the armor, cutting deeply beneath it with each slash.

KABOOM!

Ike finally swung both weapons down, smashing the Dark Knight into the floor with a final explosion. Ike panted, dropping both weapons and finally relieving his arms. The Dark Knight was laying there, his armor cracked and burnt.

"Finally… Ha… I… beat… you…" gasped Ike.

"No… It is not… over…" said the Dark Knight, slowly getting back on his feet. Ike's eyes widened, yet his body would not move.

"You are weak… You cannot… beat me…" panted the Dark Knight, who was raising his Alondite.

"No…"

"Good bye, worthy opponent." The Dark Knight slammed the Alondite down, pointed straight at Ike's head.


	106. Chapter 106: Dark Porky

Hack: Sorry, guys, but I'm going to leave ya'll hanging on the conclusion of the Ike fight… Except it's not quite over yet, as you'll soon see.

**Recap:** The smashers have crossed the bridge. They do not know where Samus is yet, and Ike is left behind to take care of the Dark Knight. He uses his most powerful attack with his dual weapons on the Dark Knight, but is still unable to defeat him. What will happen to Ike? Ness is currently encountering Dark Porky, and Pit is fighting off Dark Medusa. Now we return to Ness's fight.

* * *

**Chapter 106: Dark Porky  
**

"How did you get here?" asked Kirby, in surprise.

"I was… recruited actually…" said King Dedede, who held the prison keys to free the smashers. "Figured that Tabuu guy won't let me have any riches… So I decided to mutiny."

King Dedede was an overweight penguin. He had a red cape, white clothes, and a signature red hat, coupled with a massive mallet.

"Wow, how do you know what mutiny means?" asked Kirby, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up! Who's got the keys here?"

"Great! What's your name by the way?" asked Marth.

"Dedede. King Dedede, the king of Pop Star!" said King Dedede, smirking proudly.

"Or the king of ducks…" muttered Kirby.

"Come on, we've gotta get you outta here pronto!" said Sonic. "Where do you have the keys, Dedede?"

"Right here," said Dedede. "But not without information first."

"What info?" asked Popo. "We're stranded in here and we need to help our buddies!"

"I want to know… Why you keep fighting, even though you're outnumbered infinity to one, when things are hopeless."

"What? Why are they hopeless?" asked Kirby, now starting to get a bit annoyed.

"Look. The Wired Frames may be piece of cake, but they'll tire you out."

"You're talking about the best warriors of the Nintendo universe," said Marth. "You don't think we'll tire out that quickly?"

"Fine. But look here, you're only facing the beginning," said King Dedede. "I know… I know what lies ahead, and I know why you were imprisoned… If Tabuu had another month, you'd all be cloned."

"Cloned? Like the Dark Entity?" asked Sonic.

"Dark Entity? I heard of them," said Nana.

"Yeah, sister, because… they were the supreme commanders of the Battlefield," said Popo.

"And I heard stories about Metaknight's defeat…" said King Dedede. "If Fox was barely able to defeat Metaknight, what makes you think you can defeat the Dark Entities?"

"What if we think so?" argued Kirby.

"Their power all exceeds that of Metaknight! They are more than ten times stronger than their original selves! And do you know who is also a Dark Entity?"

Marth hazarded a guess. "Metaknight…?"

"Yeah! Dark Metaknight! If Fox barely killed Metaknight, how do you think you have a chance against Dark Metaknight? He isn't even ranked number one either, so…"

"King Dedede… shut up," said Kirby. "You're talking about war here. We're fighting no matter the odds. We're fighting, risking our lives, to save the universe."

"But… It's hopeless…" said King Dedede. "We can still escape…"

"Ah, there are those times I want to run away for treasures at home…" said Wario. "But… There's more to be found from helping these guys out!"

"But…"

"Look here, you can run away if you want," said Kirby. "But our minds are set. We aren't backing off. Once I'm out of here, I'm going to help the smashers and take down as many as I can… along with myself, if I must…"

"…" King Dedede had no response.

Sonic sped to Dedede, snatched the keys out of his hands, and freed all of the prisoners. But King Dedede showed no resistance.

"Think about it," said Kirby. "If you want to run, then run, but if you want to help us and increase our chances of winning, then help us. We'll leave you here to think about that…"

"That's it, we're finally out!" said Marth.

"Hurry!" said Popo and Nana, hugging each other after being separated for what seemed like years.

"Um… can I… come out?" asked a shy voice.

A small blond boy came out of the prisons. He was wearing a striped shirt.

"Who's this?" asked Wario. "Doesn't look familiar."

"Ah, him," said Marth. "He was another victim, but he can fight too. Lucas, do you want to fight with us?"

Lucas nodded shyly. "Yeah… but… They didn't finish me… thank god…"

"Yeah, they couldn't finish making the dark copy of Lucas here," said Kirby.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's step it up!" said Sonic. "Let's go kick some ass!"

So Wario, Sonic, Kirby, Marth, Popo, Nana, and Lucas left the prison, leaving King Dedede to ponder within his own thoughts.

"It's hopeless…" said King Dedede. "They're up against the top… Dark Bowser… number one…"

* * *

Ness slid back, avoiding a massive explosion from Dark Porky's robot.

"Why do you keep dodging?" yelled Dark Porky.

"Because I'm used to fighting you!" said Ness. "PSI ROCKIN ALPHA!"

Yellow stripes of energy slashed around Porky, but didn't leave any marks...

KABOOM!

They exploded, blasting his machine into the wall.

"Ha… Ha… Your PSI is powerful indeed…"

"PSI FREEZE BETA!"

Ice exploded on the cockpit of Porky's machine, freezing it briefly. Two arms pointed themselves at the glass cockpit and burned the ice off with flamethrowers.

"Thank god I trained with Paula and Poo earlier…" Ness said to himself. "Having only PSI Rockin and PSI Flash in my offensive arsenal is really limited…"

"TAKE THIS!"

One arm shot at Ness. Ness wavedashed backwards to avoid it, still facing Dark Porky. He held out his hand and cried, "PSI FIRE BETA!"

A stream of fire shot out of Ness's hand, but it was blocked by a second arm, which shot at Ness again.

BAM!

It embedded itself in the ground, right where Ness was before. Ness dodged a third arm, shooting another PSI Fire attack at Porky, but it was blocked by a fourth arm.

BAM!

The fourth arm was stuck in the ground too, and Ness just realized he was surrounded by the four arms. Electricity cackled between all four…

"KABOOM!"

Ness was zapped in the force field, becoming completely black. He kneeled down, already sapped of his PSI.

"Did ya like that strategy?" said Dark Porky. "This ability of my Crabmaster allows it to absorb all PSI from the victim! You can't use PSI anymore!"

"_Life Up…_" Ness muttered, but to no avail, he could not use his recovery move. "Well…" He took out a large bottle of water and drank it down in one gulp.

"Water? You really think water will help you?"

"This special water is from Dalaam…" said Ness. "And this special version, the DX, completely refills my PSI energy."

_I only have one left though, so I can't get hit by another attack…_

"Ha! Your PSI attacks won't even make a dent! Allow me to make the next move, Ness!" said Porky. The four claws on the machine each charged a large energy ball, all pointed at Ness. Ness rushed up to Porky to attack him before he can release his attack.

"_Strength Up!_" cried Ness, boosting his own physical strength. His bat shone as he slammed it into the top of the crab machine.

KABAM!

A loud clang emerged from Ness's bat, but there wasn't even a dent on the machine!

Ness immediately flipped back to avoid being zapped by one of the arms. Another arm came at him simultaneously; Ness deflected it in the opposite direction by swinging his bat at it.

CRACK!

Ness looked at his bat in horror; it had cracked from its impact with the steel arm. "Shoot!" Ness interjected, running backward to avoid more shooting arms.

"Is this really all you've got?" sneered Dark Porky. "Playing time is over then! This baby's got more than impenetrable steel and PSI-sucking arms! You see, they can use the PSI they sucked too!"

Two arms pointed upwards, charging a massive fireball in each. "Get ready to burn, Ness!" screamed Dark Porky. "Fire Omega!"

He tossed them down. One of them came at Ness from his right, the other from his left. His only option was to jump over…

FOOM!

Ness was high up at the ceiling now, thanks to his powerful legs beefed by his PSI power. Ness let loose several small fireballs from his hands, followed by a larger fireball. They all struck Porky, releasing black smoke, but they didn't make a scratch. The two other arms of the machine pointed at Ness, firing two massive blasts of ice at the vulnerable Ness. Ness whipped out his bat again, hitting the blasts directly with his bat.

BAM! BAM!

The two blasts of ice shot back at Porky, but Ness's bat cracked into two; it was no longer a bat, but just a wooden stick. The deflected ice attacks struck Porky, but still did not damage the machine!

"Ha! You no longer have a weapon…" said Porky. "So you're defenseless!"

Ness was in a cornered situation. His PSI did not work against Porky, nor did his bat, and his bat was his only form of defending, which was now gone. He could not escape either; speed was not Ness's forte. He only had one weapon left… His brains.

"Die!" said Porky, shooting all four arms at Ness. Ness rolled underneath the arms and behind Porky. He held his hands to his head, thinking briefly hundreds of possible strategies to counter Porky. He only had a split second to plan his strategy… He had his PSI attacks and his final weapon…

Porky whirled around, and Ness snapped awake. "Teleport Beta!" He cried. He began to whirl around Porky at frightening speeds, almost as if there were multiple of him…

"Ha! This is easily handled!" said Porky, holding all four arms out horizontally to trip Ness. But Ness knew Porky can easily stop his maneuver. He panted, but he couldn't give up…

"_Flash Alpha!_"

Porky was blinded by a large green light briefly. "You think that's gonna hurt me?" said Dark Porky, but he still couldn't see anything. He whirled around to hear a zapping noise behind him.

"Ha! You're using it to attack behind me, so you must be directing it in front of me, away from the PSI thunder!" said Dark Porky, shooting two of his arms out in front of him. He saw a shadow of Ness, and the arms shot through it, but it disappeared! The two arms embedded themselves into the wall, leaving them vulnerable.

The green light disappeared. Porky saw a shadow of Ness to his left and he shot a third arm at that.

"Too bad… That's just an illusion, as I'm right in front of you!" said Ness, swinging another heavier bat and smashing it down on Porky's cockpit.

KABAM!

There was a small crack on the cockpit. The bat was also slightly cracked, but Ness had finally damaged the machine, if only a little.

"I noticed your arms had eyes… You could see through them, so you had 360 degrees vision," said Ness. "I took both of them out of commission by luring them into attack my shadow in that direction with my thunder attack. That last shadow was a diversion, so I can attack from your blind spot."

"Ha! It's only a scratch, you can't pull that maneuver on me again!" said Dark Porky.

_I thought it'd actually destroy a part… The Casey Bat… It's almost impossible to hit with unless I'm attacking from an opponent's blind side. It's ridiculously powerful, but also ridiculously inaccurate…_ Ness thought to himself. _To think with even Strength Up alpha, the machine can resist this bat to this extent… It won't work again, Porky will be expecting it._

"That bat, I'll destroy it!" said Porky. The two arms were still stuck in the wall. "This machine has an invisibility mechanism. You won't be able to spot me, Ness!" he said as the entire machine slowly blended in with its environment.

"No way…" Ness was continuing to lose hope. He had to escape. There was no way he can beat Dark Porky.

BAM! BAM!

Ness was knocked aside by an arm, his body already breaking apart. Ness rolled over to barely dodge another shooting arm, but a third arm stabbed him directly in the heart! His life gone, his PSI gone, all hope was gone…

"UGH!!" Ness coughed out blood, already losing life. "No…" He couldn't see Porky. He held a hand out. He couldn't end it… Not now… Not already… He had to help the smashers… He had to…

A fourth arm stabbed him again, this time in his stomach. Blood spurted out from his wounds… The arms left his body, leaving him to rot…

* * *

_Dying already? I can't believe I was defeated by such a wimp. You didn't even call upon any part of me, you little idiot. I remember those years ago, you needed me to beat Gigyas._

_And yet you're being beaten by this idiot Porky. You know it. You want my power, don't you? Ness?_

…_You can't respond, eh? Are you already that close to death? You must be pretty damn rusty if you're that close to death._

_Was unleashing those eight sanctuaries all for nothing? You can't even call upon their powers anymore?_

_As your nightmare, I expect more from you, Ness…_

* * *

_Ness finally crawled onto a large throne. There was a massive statue on it, with a horned man standing, holding onto the hilt of a sword._

"_I'm finally… here…" said Ness._

"_You're finally here," said the statue._

"_Huh?"_

"_I am your nightmare. To use my power, you must conquer me."_

"_Conquer… you?"_

"_Yourself. Your fears. I am stronger than you in every aspect. Strength, stamina, speed, PSI… everything."_

"_Then how can I defeat you?"_

"_That's up to you to decide. All you have is yourself. You do not have your friends to depend on this time."_

_Ness braced himself. The statue turned alive, transforming into a dark version of Ness!_

"_Come, Ness!"_

* * *

_You remember that, don't you? When all odds were against you, you never gave up against me. That was key. Your bravery. Yet you cowardly gave up against this pitiful child hiding in his wussy machine. You call yourself the hero of your planet? How despicable._

_You're a weakling now. I can't believe I was defeated by someone…_

_Shut up._

_What did you just say?_

_I know… I know what I can do…_

_You can't do anything now, you're about to die. You gave up and wanted to run away from this idiot._

_No… I can still fight now… Thank you…_

_...heh…_

_Lend me your powers… one more time… The powers of my eight sanctuary locations… The power of my sound stone…_

_It's been seven years, Ness… You better not die here._

* * *

"UNLEASH GIANT STEP!" Ness cried. "Recovery!" His wounds were instantly healed, leaving no traces of blood. His PSI was completely recovered. He was completely renewed.

He could also sense Porky… He knew where Porky was.

Before Porky knew what happened, Ness cried this time, "UNLEASH LILLIPUT STEPS!" Ness held a hand out, using a move that only Paula and Poo knew, and not him… Until now. "_Freeze Omega!_"

Porky's machine exploded with ice, shards shooting everywhere. The machine was frozen stiff. Power was flowing through Ness's PSI, although he knew it would not last long. PSI was not infinite.

"UNLEASH MILKY WELL!"

Ness held out both of his hands, charging fire in them. "_Fire Omega!_"

A massive beam of fire shot from Ness's hand, piercing through Porky's machine and thawing him. An arm was broken off of the machine, melted off perhaps.

"Argh! What's going on? Why can you hurt me?" Porky cried.

"UNLEASH RAINY CIRCLE!" Ness's feet glowed. "UNLEASH MAGNET HILL!" Ness held out his Casey Bat, which was now glowing gold. "UNLEASH PINK CLOUD!" The bat was now crackling with electricity…

Ness suddenly appeared before Porky. Although he had infinite sight, Porky could not react to Ness's sudden outburst of speed.

BAM!

Ness slammed the inaccurate bat into Porky's cockpit, which now had a massive hole in it.

"ARGGGHH!!" Porky made the machine shoot back, away from Ness. "DIE!!" Porky shot several missiles at Ness, which were clearly more powerful than his previous attacks. The missiles were about to collide on Ness…

"UNLEASH LUMINE HALL!"

Ness held out his hand, stopping the missiles in midair. He shot them back at Porky, who dashed to the side to avoid them.

Ness could feel his body breaking apart. He had never taken the power of his sanctuaries this far… If he unleashed the last sanctuary, he could die from it…

But to finish Dark Porky off…

"UNLEASH FIRE SPRING!!"

Ness glowed yellow, smirking. "You're about to die, Porky…"

"ARGH!" Porky ran towards Ness, about to stab him with the three remaining arms…

"_STARSTORM OMEGA!!_" Ness cried, summoning the forbidden technique.

From the ceiling above, massive balls of energy fell. Porky began to dodge them, but the energy stars increased in frequency. There were more and more.

**KABOOM!** Was heard each time Porky's machine was struck by each star. White explosions ensued everywhere in the room.

One final star shot down at the speed of light, upon Dark Porky.

**KABOOOOOM!!**

Three of the arms blew off of the machine. Porky and his machine were sent flying into the walls. Porky was still protected by the machine, but the machine itself was practically destroyed…

"No! No! NOOOO!! You… You destroyed my ultimate creation!" Dark Porky cried.

Ness was closing his eyes, completely out of energy. He saw, in the corner of his eye, the machine regrowing its four arms once again… "No…" Ness muttered desperately.

"It can repair itself," smirked Dark Porky. "I never thought you could destroy the arms, but now you're finished!"

Ness was lying on the ground, unable to do anything. Porky's machine walked up to the vulnerable Ness.

All four arms were pointed straight at Ness's heart, ready to pierce it. They all shot down…


	107. Chapter 107: Dark Medusa

Hack: Okay. This fight did not meet my own expectations, my apologies. I just got… lazy. I wanted to get past this fight, as I really didn't know how to write a better fight for Pit, as he already got a good one with Dark Samus. Well… there's my excuse, if you find this fight lackluster, although I think you may be pleased with the end of the chapter…

**Recap:** Ike is about to get killed by the Dark Knight, and Ness is about to get killed by Dark Porky. The prisoners are now freed and set off to help the smashers, but they meet King Dedede, who does not believe that victory is possible. Will he be able to help the smashers? The smashers are about to end their camp night, while Pit is fighting off Dark Medusa. Will Pit defeat Dark Medusa, or will he be defeated?

* * *

**Chapter 107: Dark Medusa**

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Several lasers struck the wall, missing their target. Pit flipped across the ground, barely dodging every red laser. Each laser was shot by a strand of Dark Medusa's hair, which looked more like snakes than hair.

"Not bad…" said Dark Medusa. "That was simply the limits of my original self."

"That is true," replied Pit. "I remember your original form, and I defeated it. This time will be no different."

"Ah, but see… I am ten times more powerful!"

All the hairs then shot lasers, and each laser… _curved_ through the air! They were all aimed directly at Pit! Pit immediately jumped upwards, hovering in the air above the lasers.

But the lasers curved upwards, chasing him violently. Pit glided through the air and directly above Dark Medusa, the lasers still pursuing him. Pit whirled around, arming his bow.

BAM!

He fired an arrow… No, several arrows at once. They all curved through the air, and each one struck one opposing laser. The moment all the light arrows collided with Medusa's laser, several explosions ensued. Pit was blown into the wall, right above Medusa. The snake hairs shot for him from the ground, about to tackle him.

SLISH!

Pit divided his bow into two, wielding them as short swords, and expertly sliced through all of the snake heads. Pit landed on the ground, ready to defend himself, when the snake faces grew back on the bodies!

"Little angel commander knows how to play tag then…" said Dark Medusa.

"They grow back now?" Pit gasped.

"Sure they do, I'm invincible."

"Hmph." All of the snakes detached from Medusa's back, shooting themselves at Pit. Her massive eye glowed red as well…

Pit retreated towards the ceiling, pointing an arrow at Medusa's eye.

"This shot will not miss," said Pit, narrowly flying away from the bouncing snakes nipping at his feet.

"Oh really?" said Dark Medusa, her eye still glowing.

Pit fired the arrow. Dark Medusa whirled around, covering the back with millions of snakes. The arrow curved in the air, circling around Medusa's body and pointed at her eye!

_There we go!_

SPLAT!

"AAAHHHHH!!!" Dark Medusa cried, her eye now swollen red, but still glowing. She whirled around, looking at Pit. Pit was suddenly on the ground, clutching his own eye.

"AHHHHHH!!! MY EYE!!!" Pit cried, his right eye spurting with blood.

"Hah… yes… whatever… you do to me… you do it… to yourself…" Dark Medusa panted. "You can't… beat me… HA!"

Pit was kneeling on the floor, moving his hand away from his eye, which was pitch red. "I've lost… my depth in sight…" he said to himself. _This is not good… I can't aim with this…_

"Now then… without one of your eyes… DIE!!!"

The snakes attacked again. Pit immediately flew again, ignoring the throbbing pain of his right eye.

_Her eye glowed… before I attacked… There must be some spell…_

Before he could think of a plan, however, Medusa fired several rings of energy at Pit! Pit flew to the side to dodge them, readying his bow once again.

_That eye is key… But I cannot blind my other eye, or else the battle is lost…_

The snakes on the floor fired multiple lasers once again. Along with dodging the rings of energy, Pit glided through the air, spinning his body to narrowly avoid the lasers.

Dark Medusa held up her palms, charging energy into it. While gliding, Pit knocked a light arrow on his bow and fired at Medusa's palms.

BAM!

Medusa staggered, unable to fire her attack. At the same time, Pit injured his right hand, which was now bleeding.

"You seem very weak, compared with the other enemies that the smashers have faced," taunted Pit.

"Weak? You should talk… I am invincible in this battle!"

"That arrow was aimed at your right palm, so you can no longer use your energy attacks because of your disabled right hand," said Pit.

Medusa looked at her right hand; she couldn't move it. "I see… well then, it hurts you more since you need your right hand for attacking!"

"Not necessarily," said Pit. His right hand was stiff, but the fingers were curled enough to pull back the string on the bow, using his arm to pull it back rather than his hand this time. "and I'll be sure to pepper your body in every spot with an arrow if it would prove necessary."

"Well… with your hand disabled… You are now more vulnerable to attack!" She fired most of her snakes, leaving one behind in her hair, at Pit.

_There must be a weak point to disable her spell… There must be… one more hit on Dark Medusa and I will become immobile…_

But he had no time to think. There were so many snakes and so many lasers that Pit couldn't dodge them!

CLANG!

Pit held up a blue shield to block all of the lasers. It covered his entire crouching body, leaving his back exposed, but he was crouching against the wall. The lasers were deflected away, leaving several explosions on the walls.

"That… was close…" coughed Pit. _But… She left one snake behind… She probably wants it as a lookout for behind her…_ He looked at Dark Medusa, who was charging her hands for another attack, the detached snakes around her also charging their red eyes. Behind Dark Medusa was one snake, however, that was still attached to her butt…

Pit held up his shield again helplessly as the countless lasers bounced off of it, unable to curve to his vulnerable backside because of the wall directly behind him. Pit barely stood his ground, his knees close to giving away from the force of the explosion.

Pit immediately stood up, firing an arrow directly at Dark Medusa's left. She swerved to her right, avoiding the curving arrow. Pit began to run forward, firing arrow after arrow that seemed to intentionally miss. Dark Medusa continued to glide backwards, swerving away from the arrows and keeping her eye on Pit. Pit continued to stare at Dark Medusa, paying close attention to her movements.

"Are you done? Then it's my turn!" said Dark Medusa. "Be engulfed in complete darkness!" She held out her hand, firing several dark beams this team at Pit.

_I've got it! Directly on her back, three feet above the ground, along a twenty-five degree angle above the horizontal!_

Pit took into the air, holding his bow out. He fired, ignoring the dark beams approaching him.

FOOM!

The arrow was true. It aimed directly at where Pit aimed – exactly three feet above the ground, at Dark Medusa's back, at a twenty-five degree angle above the horizontal.

But the one sole snake was too fast. It fired a laser instantly to destroy that arrow.

Dark Medusa's eyes retracted. _What? He found out… How?_

But little did she know, there was another arrow hidden beneath that arrow's shadow! It instantly curved in a loop and aimed at Medusa's back again. Before Dark Medusa or her last snake knew what happened, Dark Medusa was struck in the back!

Pit didn't feel any pain.

"AAGGGHHHHH!!!" Dark Medusa cried, clutching her back.

"I knew it. There was a secret behind the last snake," said Pit. "I calculated its sight range with the first few arrows while approaching you. Then I decided to try to make it move from its position with the next arrows."

"What?" Dark Medusa gasped.

"It did move. It moved to counter the arrow should it come within vicinity. Furthermore, that one snake… It kept one single point and angle covered at all times, no matter where it moved. I shot arrows in opposite directions to lure it in opposite directions, and the only spot its vision still intersected… is your weak point. And striking that point, it seems, deactivates the spell you put on me."

"You… you are… indeed the archer… the rival…" said Dark Medusa.

"I will now show no mercy!" said Pit, using his paralyzed right hand to pull on the bow string. FOOM! He fired several arrows at once at Dark Medusa, who sunk into the ground to dodge them.

"Ha ha ha ha!!!! You can't do anything to me now!" Dark Medusa's voice echoed through the room. "I can sink into the dimension of darkness and plan my next attack to destroy you! And you can't even think about escaping, because I've surrounded this tower with a dark barrier! Nobody can exit!"

Pit stood on the ground, thinking to himself. _Well… this gives time to plan another attack on Dark Medusa… This will finish you off. I just hope Dark Medusa can't see what I'm doing while she's still in that dimension._

Pit dashed to the entrance of the room, planting a light rod into it. It shone brightly, lighting up the room. He shifted his eyes cautiously; there were no signs of Dark Medusa noticing this. He immediately dashed to another corner of the room planting a second rod.

_I can't… I'm too tired…_ He thought, leaning against the wall. _But… I must finish her off… I must return alive!_

With all of his strength, Pit walked towards a third corner of the room, planting a third rod.

_That's a third one… I need two more…_

But he was too slow. Dark Medusa emerged from the center of the room, completely revived and healed.

"So said your prayers yet?" she asked. She looked around and saw the three light rods. "What?"

Pit smirked. "May Palutena's Judgement be upon you," he said, standing outside the triangle formed by the three light rods. He raised his left arm.

KABOOM!

Light engulfed everything in the triangle. Dark Medusa screamed, her energy being completely drained. When the light cleared away, Dark Medusa was lying on the ground, panting.

"I needed five rods…" said Pit. "But three should be… enough… It drains all of your energy for a minute

"Ha… really…?" said Dark Medusa. "But my children… they haven't been in… this room yet… Ah, here they come…"

The snakes appeared from a dark hole in the center of the room. Pit's eyes widened in shock.

"Finish him!" said Dark Medusa.

All of the snakes charged at Pit, firing several beams at him… Pit embraced himself helplessly…

KABOOM!

* * *

"We're getting closer," said Luigi. "Closer with each day of fighting."

"I'm worried," said Peach. "Ike hasn't returned. Ness and Pit aren't here yet either."

"We have to keep moving," said Luigi. "What's past us… We'll all have to face the dark entities."

"But you're going to leave them for dead?" said Peach.

"…Peach…"

"Luigi! You can't do this!"

"I… I wish…"

"They are fighting for their lives! And what are we doing? Just lying here, taking small steps towards the final destination of the Battlefield! You have to make some risks!"

"I am. I just… Hope they don't die…"

"You can't hope! You just…"

"We're back!" said Sonic, appearing right next to Luigi.

"Sonic! How did it go?"

"Very cool," said Sonic, giving him a high five. Peach scowled at this interruption.

"Look Peach," said Luigi. "I have it all planned out. I wanted Sonic and Wario to rescue Marth, Popo, Nana, Pichu, and Kirby. Do you see them anywhere here?"

Peach looked around and saw nobody coming to them except Wario, who was tired from chasing after Sonic through the armies of Wired Frames.

"No… Where are they?"

"Do you think I really wanted to leave Ness, Pit, and Ike by themselves for dead? In case they can't do it… The prisoners will finish the job."

* * *

CLANG!

"Attacking an unarmed man…" said Marth, holding his counter stance against the Dark Knight's Alondite. "Is a swordsman's shame!"

KABOOM! Marth blew the Dark Knight away with his counter blow, ripping his arm muscles in the process. "Ugh…"

Ike was still on the ground, panting. Marth was standing above Ike's head, just saving Ike's head from being crushed.

"Are you okay?" asked Marth, giving a hand to Ike. Ike grabbed Marth's hand, but yelped in pain.

"AGH! My arm!"

"You need an elixir… I have an extra," said Marth. "Wario and Sonic, I think their names were? They told me to help you."

"Ha… Thanks…" said Ike, drinking the liquid from a blue vial. His arms were now able to move, but were still in a lot of pain.

"But… We still have unfinished business," said Marth, pointing his Falchion at the Dark Knight, who was standing up again with cracked armor. "Can you still fight?"

"Somewhat, with the elixir…" said Ike.

"A dual fight? I do not mind in the slightest," said the Dark Knight. "It makes things more exciting!"

* * *

"Shield Alpha!"

The arms clanged off of an invisible barrier around Ness.

"What? But you're too tired!" screamed Dark Porky. He whirled around to see Lucas right behind.

"Uh…" said Lucas, unsure of what to say. "Are you Ness?"

Ness could only nod.

"You look familiar!" said Dark Porky. "Lucas, is it not?"

_Lucas… you're a PSI user?_ Ness asked Lucas telepathically.

Lucas's eyes widened. _What? You are… too?_

_Yeah… I need a bottle of DX water… Do you have any?_

_Um… yes… Uh… Here…_

Lucas began running, dodging the arms shooting at him.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE! HA HA HA HA HA!!!!" screamed Dark Porky.

Lucas reached Ness with a bottle of water in his hands. He put the bottle into Ness's left hand and Ness drank it, his PSI recovered.

"_Lifeup Gamma…_" Lucas chanted quietly. Ness's body was covered in green light, and much of Ness's fatigue was gone. He was still injured and was not close to perfect condition, but…

"Ah… Good… you're a cleric too…" said Ness, standing up slowly. "You can fight, right?"

"…??"

"Lucas?"

"Oh! Uh… Yes!"

"I can fight now… Let's finish him off together then!" said Ness, drawing his bat slowly.

"Um… yeah, let's…" said Lucas, shyly.

* * *

The snakes were froze in midair and shattered by two smashes, each from a distinct wooden mallet.

"What? But…" said Dark Medusa, her energy only gone for a minute. Now it was coming back. "Who froze them?"

"You can call me Popo…" said a blue-suited Eskimo, bouncing in front of Pit.

"And me Nana!" said a pink-suited Eskimo, dancing next to Popo.

"And together, we're…"

"The ICE CLIMBERS!!!"

"Ice Climbers?" both Dark Medusa and Pit said simultaneously.

"Here, take a pickle," said Nana, taking out a violet fruit. "It'll help."

Pit chomped on it immediately and felt a little of his energy returning; he could at least stand now. And stand he did.

"Thank you… Nana was it? I… owe my life to you… both of you…"

"Wait," said Popo. "We're not finished. We need to beat this woman together. You can move a little now, right?"

"Yes. Be careful when her eye glows, do not stare at it. She will curse you…"

"Okay," said Popo. "Ready?"

"Ready when you are, bro!" said Nana.

"Mmm. Yes…" said Pit.


	108. Chapter 108: The Division

Hack: No actual fights yet, but this chapter's just a transition chapter. Probably not as enjoyable, but look forward to the next chapters!

**Recap**: Ike, Ness, and Pit just had their butts saved by Marth, Lucas, and the Ice Climbers, and they're about to start fighting their respective opponents again! Except this time, in duos! Meanwhile, Luigi's forces are about to move on to the full force attack on the final destination. They will be in for some surprise…

* * *

**Chapter 108: The Division**

"Is there no end to the Battlefield?" panted Kirby, who had joined the group.

"I don't know…" said Fox, shaking his head. "I just don't know… I hope my team isn't gone…" He looked up at the dark sky.

"The castle is up ahead," said Luigi, pointing ahead. "It's been several hours."

Their surroundings were clear, and they were not under siege for once.

"Luigi…" said Peach. "What's going to happen once we get inside?"

"...Honestly, I don't know. Everyone, prepare yourself," said Luigi.

Luigi reached the large door of the castle and banged on it. It did not budge.

"Hold on a sec, dude," said Captain Falcon. "FALCON PUUUNCH!!!"

He sent a flying punch into the door, but it didn't budge again.

"Gyeh heh heh heh! It won't move," said a dark, sinister, feminine voice far behind all of the smashers.

"You!" yelled Bowser.

Dark Cackletta smirked. "So? It won't move. What are you all going to do? Finish me off here? That won't do anything, seeing as five other Dark Entities hold keys to the door."

"It's protected by a barrier…" said Jigglypuff. "And I probably can't teleport in…"

"No way in," said Dark Cackletta, waggling a finger.

"And this world is… pretty massive," said Luigi. "Is this a way to waste our time?"

"In a way, gyeh heh heh! Also, I don't think our master wants to face all of you at once. He doesn't want to face a bunch of weaklings…"

"Weaklings?" grunted Donkey Kong, holding his fists.

"I seriously think you're misjudging us," said Isaac.

"Really?"

"Clearly she wants to take away our time…" said Luigi. "We're all separating. Everyone, separate into pairs, now."

"What?" gasped Diddy Kong.

"Do it!"

"And what's that going to do?" asked Dark Cackletta.

"We'll all take out the Dark Entities separately," Luigi said confidently.

The rest of the smashers gasped, but still stood their ground.

"Ah, and you're aware that all of us are stronger than the second-in-command of the Ring of Darkness?" said Dark Cackletta.

"Yes. I'm also aware that…" Luigi looked around. "We're all much stronger than before. Everyone, go!"

Everyone was about to depart, but Cackletta raised her right arm.

"Hold! I don't think I gave you permission to split up!" said Dark Cackletta.

BAM!

Dark Cackletta was blown into the massive castle by an invisible fist from Luigi.

"But I do! Go!"

The smashers agreed and all split apart into various paths.

Dark Cackletta stood up again, smirking. "That made no dent on me!"

"Believe me, that was only part of a warm-up," said Luigi. "Bring it on."

"Fine. I am Dark Cackletta, Seventh-in-Command of the Dark Entities!"

"I'll be strong enough to beat the strongest!"

* * *

Krystal was looking out through a window in the Starfox Mothership, staring at the Battlefield as small as a star in her view.

Already past a day. Two days. She stared through, waiting for Fox and the smashers to return soon. Explosions were seen every second.

Suddenly, Peppy walked in. "Are you all right? You've been staring out through the window for hours."

Krystal smiled at Peppy. "I'm just… a little tired. Is Slippy back yet?"

"Eighty percent of the enemy ships have been taking out, and we've suffered minimal damage in the Arwings. I know he's safe," said Peppy.

"It makes me wonder, though, how complete the team would be… if Falco were back here with us…"

Peppy was silent.

"It was the entire team. Fox, me, you, Slippy, and Falco… And we can't forget ROB. But ever since all of this happened… It's real, isn't it?"

"We've always searched for peace," said Peppy. "And we've had it for the three years before this happened. Falco's death… General Pepper's death… and there were other sacrifices."

"…It all comes back to this," said Krystal. "the root of evil… Tabuu."

"I can only pray for the smasher's success in eliminating Tabuu," said Peppy.

Suddenly, there was a loud beeping noise. Peppy and Krystal immediately dashed to the mother board, next to which was ROB.

"ALERT. A BOMB HAS BEEN LOCATED IN THE BATTLEFIELD," said ROB.

"What?" gasped both Peppy and Krystal.

Slippy's face appeared on the intercom.

"You guys! My radars detected a massive bomb! It's been set to explode three days from the start of the attack!" said Slippy.

"Three days… It's already been two days! How did we not notice this?" said Peppy.

"Slippy, do you have contact with any of the smashers?" asked Krystal. The smashers had to be notified immediately.

"No, Krystal, the only one we could contact was Samus, but she is out of range and well into the Battlefield now!"

"Rats!" said Peppy. He looked up at the clock. They only had twenty-two hours left until the bomb would explode. "How big is this bomb?"

"It'll destroy the entire battlefield! Enough to engulf a universe!"

"Great," said Krystal. "Slippy, your task is to rush into the Battlefield and find any smasher, _any_, and tell them."

"But going in by myself would be suicide," said Slippy.

"Slippy, are you a man or not?" said Peppy.

"I'll go," said Krystal.

"But what about… your baby?" asked Peppy, nodding his head towards the dormitories.

"You stay here and keep watch over the mothership," said Krystal. "I will provide reinforcements to Slippy."

* * *

"Was it really the right choice for Luigi to fight off Dark Cackletta on his own?" asked Peach, who was sitting on Yoshi's back.

"I think he can handle her," said Yoshi. "But the trouble is… we've all split up into pairs and trios. Can we survive?"

They were walking in a forest filled with dark trees. It was peaceful, but rather too peaceful…

"And there are five other commanders we have to beat," said Peach. "And… the Battlefield must be separated into terrains…"

"Yeah, I remember seeing a massive lake, and a mountain near the castle," agreed Yoshi.

Suddenly, Yoshi bumped his head into an invisible barrier. Peach was knocked to the ground.

"Ow! Yoshi, can't you watch where you're going?" she asked.

Yoshi banged his hand on the barrier. "Someone's trapped us in here," he said, whirling around and looking at the kneeling Peach before him. Behind Peach, however, he saw a familiar figure raising his staff.

CRASH!

"AHHHHH!!!" Peach screamed.

Yoshi immediately grabbed Peach's waist with his tongue and swung her onto his saddle, just to save her from a massive lightning bolt. A massive circle of fire surrounded the region they were in. The trees burned down in an instant. Yoshi and Peach were already sweating.

"Not bad, not bad at all, heh heh…"

"Grodus!" gasped Peach.

"No, it must be Dark Grodus," said Yoshi.

"You've got that right, little dinosaur," sneered Dark Grodus. "But we need our introductions, don't we? Why don't I start? I am Dark Grodus, tenth in command of the Dark Entities." He raised his staff, shooting down lightning.

* * *

"Hmmmm…" said Donkey Kong. "I hate to admit it, but… this ocean is pretty pretty!"

He and Diddy Kong were standing at a beach, before a black ocean. Although it was clearly filled with evil, the ocean still had the beauty of a true ocean.

Diddy Kong munched on a banana. He was looking around nervously for any sign of an enemy. "We can't be relaxing here!" he said.

Donkey Kong stood on his tippy toes to get a better view. "Wait, hang on… I see a pirate ship out there."

"Really?" Diddy Kong jumped on Donkey Kong's shoulders to get a better view as well. "Yeah… it's barely visible from here…"

"Should we explore it?" asked Donkey Kong.

"I dunno…" Diddy Kong replied nervously. "We might not be doing what we're supposed to be doing…"

"We won't know unless we try," said Donkey Kong. "Let's go!"

And before the cautious chimp knew it, the ape jumped into the ocean and breaststroke through the ocean and towards the ship. Diddy Kong sighed as he followed.

* * *

"I can barely see the castle from here," said the Elder Link as he looked over his shoulder. "Is Luigi still fighting back there?"

Ganondorf simply shrugged silently.

Link stabbed an attacking wired frame unconsciously, continuing to walk forward into a plain desert.

"And this really looks like Gerudo Desert…" muttered Link.

Ganondorf grunted this time, slicing another wired frame's head off with his axe.

They paced on for ten more minutes. The desert storms were spinning around the pair more and more violently, and soon enough, Link and Ganondorf were blinded.

"It's hopeless… We should go back," said Link, squinting his eyes. "I can't see a thing!"

Ganondorf looked around, seeing nothing but endless sand. "Reminds me of Desert Colossus."

"Should we turn back?" asked Link. Ganondorf simply shrugged.

"I don't think we'll get anywhere at this rate…"

"Hey!" said Ganondorf, pointing at a small deserted area ahead.

"Huh? That looks like… An oasis?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't think there'd be an oasis here. Maybe we'll find something, let's go."

"Right," replied Ganondorf.

* * *

"I don't think we went in the right direction," muttered Isaac, fighting off several wired frames far from the castle that Luigi was fighting at.

Olimar was throwing pikmin after pikmin at the wired frames. Although many pikmin were dying, the sheer forces of the quantity of them were overtaking the wired frames as well.

Kirby himself was swallowing wired frames with a disgusting look. "They don't taste very good…" he groaned.

"I didn't think you could eat everything," said Isaac, slightly disturbed.

"This is it, is it?" said a masculine voice.

"Possibly. Our underlings are all getting raped by these inferior beings," said a second female voice.

All of the wired frames suddenly ran out of the way to leave an open spot for two figures… Two wired frames!

"Who are you?" asked Olimar.

"I know… You're the commander of the wired frames," said Kirby. "The Male and Female Wired Frames."

"So we've met," said the Male Wired Frame, assuming a fighting stance.

"And we won't be leaving you lot alive," said the Female Wired Frame.

"They shouldn't be much stronger than the wired frames we were facing," Isaac said confidently.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, seeing as our power ratings rival that of the Dark Entities."

"We'll see about that!" said Kirby.

* * *

Fox, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff were relaxing in an open area. All of the wired frames that attacked them were taken out in a few seconds instantly.

"It's nice to relax once in a while in the middle of the day rather than at the end," said Fox, lying down.

"Be on your guard," said Jigglypuff, slightly annoyed by Fox's casual attitude.

"C'mon, Jiggs!" said Captain Falcon.

"Yeah, really!" said Fox. "I'm a bit tired."

"It's weird, right?" said Jigglypuff. "All this time… It all started in the Smash Mansion."

"…Everything… I never expected that a massive science experiment was being conducted right under our noses," said Fox. "By Ganondorf, the doctor, and Mewtwo…"

Captain Falcon was looking up, also reminiscing. "Remember the awesome kickass times? When we just smashed all day in tournaments?"

Fox smirked. "Yeah, and I remember kicking your sorry ass in those tournaments," said Fox.

"I never placed too high…" said Jigglypuff.

"Well… after all of this is over," said Fox. "I'll hold a final tournament, with the newcomers."

"But it'll never happen," said a dark voice. "For your last fight will be here and now."

Four figures appeared before the three smashers, each of a different color.

"You don't look like dark entities," said Jigglypuff. "Who are you?"

"Yeah, who the hell are you guys?" asked Captain Falcon.

"Some call us the Alloy Warriors," said the yellow figure, whose body resembled Mario and Luigi's.

"We aren't dark entities…" said the puffy green figure, looking like Jigglypuff and Kirby.

"But we do command the armies around here," said the blue feminine figure, looking like Zelda and Peach.

"And our powers rivals those of the Dark Entities," said the red figure.

"Wait, you look like me!" said Captain Falcon, pointing at the Red Alloy.

"Be that it may, you will still die here," said the Red Alloy, smirking.


	109. Chapter 109: Fire

Hack: I'm back! After a ton of school work and applications, I finally found some time to type this up again! So… The second half of the Dark Knight fight is here! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 109: Fire**

"Interesting, two swordsmen," said the Dark Knight.

"How could you have been taking his attacks?" said Marth, gripping his right arm. It was still broken from countering the Dark Knight's blow.

"I guess…" said Ike. "I'm just tough enough…"

"Ready?" said the Dark Knight, dashing forward.

FOOM!

The Dark Knight slashed at Ike, who barely blocked the attack with the Ragnell. Ike was pushed backwards, almost about to fall down. Marth swerved around the Dark Knight quickly, slashing him four times, each within the joins of the armor.

SLISH SLISH SLISH SLISH!

The Dark Knight kneeled down briefly before Ike was about to slam his sword onto his helm. The Dark Knight swung his right arm around to grab Marth's waist behind him and, with his powerful arm, threw him at Ike, plowing both of them through the wall.

"Ugh..." Ike grunted, struggling to stand up.

Marth looked down to Ike, helping him up, then looked back at the Dark Knight.

"I don't have your muscle power, Ike," said Marth. "I can't take his attacks as well as you can, but I don't want to ask you to fight in your current state…"

"I've been through worse. The Elixir helped," Ike said, smiling.

Marth stood up. "You rest," he told Ike. "I'll take on the Dark Knight. Five minutes. Can you recover your stamina in that time?" Ike nodded.

Marth pointed the Falchion at the Dark Knight.

"Hmph. You intend to hold me off for five minutes to let Ike recover his stamina."

"Whether you agree or not…" said Marth. "I'm not letting you touch him."

"That's fine. I wanted to test your strength before playing with the both of you."

"That's fine with me too," said Marth.

FOOM!

With almost the speed of Fox, Marth appeared right in front of the Dark Knight and slashed across his cracked chest. The Dark Knight retaliated with a block, about to shove Marth away.

"_Counter!_"

Marth blocked his adversary's attack and retaliated instantly with a powerful slash, blowing away the Dark Knight.

"Ugh!"

Marth ran up to the vulnerable Dark Knight, about to attack the joints again.

"Not so fast…" With surprising agility, the Dark Knight flipped backwards, away from Marth. He swung his sword horizontally, releasing another massive blue wave. Marth rolled underneath the shockwave and toward the Dark Knight's knees.

BAM!

The Dark Knight slammed his fist into the back of Marth's head, making him dizzy for a moment. Then the Dark Alondite came towards Marth's side, creating a massive slash across his waist.

"Marth!!!" Ike yelled.

"Stay!" Marth replied, pointing at Ike.

"I see now. You are much swifter, more accurate, and faster than Ike…" said the Dark Knight, pointing the Dark Alondite at Marth. "But your sword arm is not as powerful. You cannot even make a small dent in my armor without that Counter ability of yours."

Marth stood up.

"But if you attack me, I can retaliate with Counter, and knock you out."

"That is… if you are within range."

FOOM! Another shockwave shot out from the Dark Knight. Marth barely hopped over it, but the Dark Knight was in front of him.

BAM!

He slammed an elbow into Marth's stomach this time. Marth coughed blood, bending over in pain.

"UGH!"

Marth rolled several times across the ground, unable to recover quickly. The Black Knight rushed to him, about to deal the finishing blow with the Alondite.

CLANG!

Ike blocked it with the Ragnell with as much strength as he could muster.

"GYAHHHHHHH!!!!" Ike yelled, knocking the Alondite away this time! The Black Knight rushed back to retrieve his sword, but the time it took for Ike to block was enough time for Marth to recover.

Marth kicked the Alondite further away from the Black Knight, but his adversary simply snickered.

"The Alondite is not the only weapon I have…" he said as a new sword teleported into his right hand.

"What? What sword is that?" gasped Ike.

"It looks… very familiar…" said Marth, but he was distracted by the new sword so the Black Knight was able to retrieve his Alondite as well.

"Like you, Ike, I have the ability to wield two weapons at once," he said, wielding both the Alondite and the other sword.

"So now it is more even. Two versus one, but two swords versus two swords. And Ike is unable to wield his axe any longer."

"I suppose it is pretty… fair?" Ike said, but glanced at Marth.

Marth's face only expressed anger. His eyes were red and his grip on the Falchion was harder than ever. He pointed it at the Black Knight.

"That sword… It's the Sealed Sword, isn't it?" he asked.

"WHAT?" Ike yelled.

"Yes, it is. And a beautiful sword, I must admit," replied the Black Knight. "I hear its previous owner was defeated by a weak ally of the Ring of Darkness."

"Ashnard? Weak? Roy? Weak?" said Ike.

Marth glanced at Ike. "What happened to Roy? I haven't seen him yet…"

But Ike ignored Marth. He too was as angry, if not more, as Marth was. "What did you do the day the mad king Ashnard went down? Raided the place? Searched Roy's body and snatched his sword? You have no right to even touch his holy blade."

"…Roy's… dead?" said Marth, glancing at Ike. Ike turned slowly and nodded.

"Hmph. Yes, Roy is dead. The Prince of Pherae is dead by Ashnard's blade, yet Ashnard was weak. A powerful sword only belongs to a powerful man."

"Roy is powerful…" said Marth. "He was never weak. And you… YOU CAN'T JUST STEAL HIS SWORD AND SPIT ON HIS NAME!!! I know that sword from sight. I felt its presence, but I shrugged it off because I knew the Sealed Sword couldn't be in this fight… Since Roy wasn't here…"

* * *

_CLANG! CLANG! Went the Sealed Sword and the Falchion within the Smash Mansion's training room._

"_Come on! Is that all you've got?" snickered Roy. "I'm improving myself just to beat you, Marth."_

"_You're a lot better now," said Marth. "You could definitely beat Link in a sword fight, if he didn't use all that other stuff he has. But you keep stealing my sword techniques. Counter, Shield Breaker, Dancing Blade… the only one you've developed by yourself is your famed Flare Blade."_

_On cue, Roy unleashed a slightly charged Flare Blade. Marth countered it, blowing Roy away._

"_Not bad…" said Roy. "As I expected from whom I call my rival."_

"_This session is over," said Marth, sheathing his sword. "It's been thirty minutes. We should get out before Samus blows us up; she next in the queue."_

"_Yeah, I guess. We should go to Samus room now."_

"_What? Are you still obsessed over trying to peek on her?"_

"_I've done it once in the shower… She is beautiful," replied Roy with a blush on his face. "But I kinda got blown up after five minutes."_

"_Roy, you pervert… I guess I'm not the only one you're stealing from."_

"_What're you talking about?"_

"_You steal my techniques… and now you stole Captain Falcon's pervertedness."_

"_Is that a challenge?" said Roy, pointing the Sealed Sword at Marth's face._

"_You know I'll beat you," smirked Marth._

"_OY! You're time is freaking up! Get the hell out!" screamed Samus from outside the practice room.

* * *

_"_Tell me about it…" said Marth._

"_Hm? The Sealed Sword?"_

"_Yeah. All famous swords have a backstory to them."_

"_The Sealed Sword… It's only meant to be wielded by one of pure heart," explained Roy. "I received it in the war against the dragons. It was one of the ultimate weapons to destroy them."_

"_What did it feel like?"_

_Roy knew Marth's question. "The moment I touched it, I knew it was mine. The sword belonged to me. I just felt… a connection to it. It can't be touched by anyone but its true owner, and when I touched it… I knew. I was overwhelmed. I couldn't believe it."_

"_Well you've led a massive army from all over the world to save your planet," said Marth._

"_Yeah, but still…"

* * *

_"Only those of pure heart can touch it… What did you do to it?" snarled Marth.

"Simple. The great master transferred its capabilities to me," said the Black Knight, holding the Sealed Sword up.

"Marth…" said Ike.

Marth nodded at Ike. "We're going to kill him, no matter what it takes," said Marth. "Are you ready?"

"It's all for Roy," said Ike.

"Heh! Then come!"

CLANG!

Both Ike and Marth engaged in furious combat with the Black Knight. With surprising agility, the Black Knight's arms were flying everywhere, blocking every slash from the two furious swordsmen.

_We share one goal… We have similar and differing abilities… We have the same enemy… We have one person to fight for…_

_Roy…_

Marth and Ike glanced at each other while hacking away.

_Do you know what to do?_

_I have that idea…_

_Yeah… I think it will work…_

_Then… the finishing blow…_

CLANG!

The Black Knight swung the Sealed Sword upwards, pushing Marth's sword hand up and leaving his chest open. Ike was recovering from his previous slash. The Black Knight smirked as he slashed the Alondite downwards with all his strength to finish off Marth, knowing that any slash from Ike cannot finish him.

CLANG!

"What?"

"That… was an intentional opening…" said Marth. "COUNTER!"

The Black Knight raised his sword to block Marth's counter and waited for the clang.

CLANG!!!

He heard the clang, but strangely he didn't feel it against his Alondite…

"COUNTER!" Ike cried. Marth had unleashed his counter upon Ike's Ragnell, who in turn, used that counter attack to attack the vulnerable Black Knight. The sealed sword was in no position to block, and the Alondite was only in position to block Marth's attack.

KABOOM!

With more than quadruple the power of the Black Knight's powerful slash, Ike blew the Black Knight away, further cracking his armor and stunning him for a brief moment.

"NOW!" they both cried.

_We are the warriors of the Fire Emblem… Us two and Roy… We are all linked by the name Fire Emblem… whether it be a token or a medallion, they are all the Fire Emblem…_

_We are the warriors of Fire!_

Fire circled around the Falchion and the Ragnell…

"FLARE SHIELD BREAKER!!" Marth cried, holding his sword behind him and charging it.

"FLARE AETHER!" Ike yelled.

Ike blew the Black Knight upwards and pursued him, following up with what was his ultimate attack, Great Aether, except the sword was engulfed in hotter flames… Lava poured out from every slash he dealt and his final blow slammed the Black Knight down to where Marth was.

KABOOM!

Marth stabbed forward, his sword shooting lava as it made contact with the Black Knight.

"ARRRRRGH!!!!"

The Black Knight's armor was disintegrating. It was completely red. Black smoke steamed into the sky as only the Sealed Sword and the Dark Alondite remained. The latter shattered into pieces, but the Sealed Sword, a blade of fire, remained intact.

"We… did it…" panted Marth.

Ike fell to the ground, lying on his back. The Ragnell was by his right hand, but he couldn't muster the strength to even move his fingers anymore.

"Yeah… we did it… for Roy…" said Ike.

They both fainted. The Wired Frames around them closed in, about to avenge their fallen commander…


	110. Chapter 110: Mother

Hack: I actually like this fight, although there's a bit more flashback than action… I almost cried typing up the flashback, knowing I almost literally cried while playing though these events in Mother 3. Enjoy…

WARNING! MAJOR MOTHER 3 SPOILERS!!!

* * *

**Chapter 110: Mother**

As Ness took out his bat, Lucas took out a really long… stick.

"A stick? That's your weapon? GWAH HA HA HA HA!!!" screamed Dark Porky. "And I thought Ness's Bat was ridiculous! Why not use one of those swords that your friends have? Or an axe? Those weapons might make a dent in my machine!"

"Don't mind him," said Ness, hiding his surprise about Lucas's weapon.

"I know… But…" said Lucas. "The stick is… uh, my favorite weapon?"

"Yeah, if it is, then you should use it!" replied Ness.

_But… Lucas, that's your name, right?_

_Yeah…_

_I have to tell you. Porky's machine can create a force field with those four arms and suck our PSI away if we're trapped. Also, his machine can turn invisible, but for now it probably needs to recharge._

_Uh, thanks…_

_And my bat can barely make a dent, even with offense up. Maybe your stick can, I don't know how strong it is._

_We'll see…_

FOOM!

Ness and Lucas both dodged that one arm that Porky sent flying.

"PSI THUNDER BETA!" Both Ness and Lucas cried. Several bolts of lightning fell around and onto the arm. Most of them missed, but the ones that did hit their target stunned it momentarily.

_Now Lucas!_

"OFFENSE UP!" Both boys cried, beefing up Lucas's physical strength. Lucas's arms thickened with thicker muscles as he slammed the stick into the arm.

SLISH!

As if it was a knife cutting through butter, the stick sliced through the malfunctioning arm, slicing a half of it off! But the moment Ness and Lucas focused their attacks on the arm allowed Porky to follow up with another arm, which was about to strike Ness!

"COUNTER!" Lucas cried. At the same time, Ness cried," SHIELD!"

Two barriers appeared between Ness and the mechanical arm. The full impact from the arm was reduced in half, but the arm itself was damaged, as the other barrier deflected the entire damage back!

The second arm was cracked in various spots, and it began to crackle with electricity. Just then, Porky smirked.

"You don't know about this, Lucas, do you?" he asked.

"Uh… about what?" asked Lucas.

Porky's machine suddenly disappeared, turning invisible once again.

_Ugh, it's this again…_ Ness telepathically told Lucas.

…_He's invisible, right?_

_Yeah. I can't tell where he is either, we have to only trust our instincts…_

_This might help…_

"Counter Beta!" Lucas cried, creating another counter barrier around both Ness and Lucas. Ness also created a shield around both boys.

FOOM!

Out of his left ear, Ness heard another arm about to strike him. He swiftly rolled forward to avoid the attack, but another invisible arm was ready to hit him.

BAM!

CRACK!

Ness took half of the blow, and that arm took half of its own blow as well.

_Shoot… Ness is in trouble. I can only give him more support…_

"Defense Up… Beta!"

Both Ness's and Lucas's bodies fortified, just as Ness was struck by a third arm.

"HA HA! Ness should already be worn out, so picking off the easier prey is a better strategy, am I right?" yelled Porky.

But Porky's mistake was in speaking out, as by sound, both Ness and Lucas knew where he was.

"PSI THUNDER OMEGA!" Both cried, unleashing their most powerful thunder PSI power.

Lightning bolts fell down again, except this time, the bolts were much more violent. Every bolt that struck the invisible machine created a violet explosion, and although most of the bolts of the inaccurate attack missed, it still did its damage.

"Ugh…" Porky groaned before stealthily moving to somewhere else to avoid more bolts.

BAM! One arm embedded itself in a corner of the room.

BAM! Another arm embedded itself in the opposite corner.

_Shoot, this is his PSI sucking attack…_

_It is? It seems like… he's creating a barrier around the entire room._

_Yeah. That's not good news. We can't dodge it._

_But if he sucks PSI… we can sense where he is. You can sense it too, Ness, right?_

_Yeah. But… I don't want to sacrifice you for that. I'll do it._

_No. Uh… your PSI power… it's halfway gone. I'll do it._

_What? Are you sure, Lucas?_

…_I… I think I'll be okay… You defend yourself._

_I can use Teleport Beta. But are you sure?_

_Yes._

It was an unbelievable connection. Although Ness and Lucas only knew each other for ten minutes, they were already brothers by PSI power.

The moment the third arm was put in place, Ness cried, "TELEPORT BETA!" and disappeared briefly.

"TAKE THIS!" Porky cried.

KABOOM! Lucas this time was zapped in the black force field, sapped of a big portion of his PSI power. The three arms (one is broken) disconnected themselves before Porky began his pursuit at Lucas.

Ness reappeared in the center of the room again.

_Lucas! Are you okay?_

_Uh… yeah…_ Lucas was kneeling, barely able to dodge the attacks. _I know where he is now…_

_I do too, but the PSI he sapped from you is fading away quickly. We have to finish this fast._

Ness raised his hands briefly, taking another hit from an arm. "PSI THUNDER OMEGA!"

Lucas held a hand out as well, but instead of casting lightning, he cried, "PSI GROUND!"

Porky was zapped with many bolts of lightning once again, engulfed within explosions. Immediately following Ness's attack, the ground shot massive stalactites from below Porky, stabbing the machine a total of five times.

"URGHHHH!!!!" Porky cried. The machine was still able to move, unfortunately.

_No… the PSI is gone now,_ Ness said to Lucas.

_I can't…_

_We can't afford to sacrifice our PSI for that again. I have one last bottle of Water DX, Lucas, take it! Forget about me, and beat Dark Porky!_

Ness tossed a bottle of water to Lucas, who caught it and was about to drink it.

BAM!

That brief moment of vulnerability caused Ness to be struck in the stomach by a stream of fire, slamming him into the wall.

"NESS!!!" Lucas cried.

Ness was pinned to the wall by an invisible force. Another force slammed into his face, cracking his nose. His hat slid off, revealing a heavily bleeding forehead. Ness's eye was completely black and his Casey Bat was lying on the ground. He was almost unconscious already.

"HA! YOU LIKE THAT? AND YOU, LUCAS? YOU LIKE WATCHING THERE, HELPLESSLY WATCHING ANOTHER PERSON DIE IN FRONT OF YOU??

Lucas's hand shook, but he couldn't move. He couldn't muster the strength to even put the bottle to his mouth.

"NOW… NOW YOU CAN WATCH ME FINISH THIS BOY OFF… AND THEN THERE'S YOU TO TAKE CARE OF!"

_Watching another person die in front of me?_

A tear drop fell from Lucas's eyes as he helplessly stared at Ness, who was being beaten almost to death in the face. Lucas was sitting on the ground. His legs were paralyzed, his head was paralyzed, his arms couldn't move. His right hand dropped the bottle of water, his last hope to revitalize himself and save Ness.

_I… can't… move…_ Lucas thought.

_Are you going to watch another person die in front of you?_ Another voice in Lucas's mind appeared.

_Another person? I can't… I can't do anything… It's too late… He's going to die…_

_Is that what you're going to think? You're going to let another person die? I thought you grew up from being a crybaby. Now look at you again!_

_But…_

_You're being a crybaby again. You're crying over another friend about to die as if you can't do anything. What's going to happen this time?

* * *

_"_We can't get out," said Claus, Lucas's twin brother. He had orange hair instead of yellow, but otherwise, he and Lucas looked exactly the same. They were both only less than ten years old. "How are we going to get out?"_

_The family of three were trapped within a cave. It was a complete storm outside. Thunder rolled violently through the cavern walls, and rain splattered from above._

"_We'll find a way, trust me," said Hinawa, their mother. She was a beautiful woman and one of the nicest in the world. She had brown hair and was wearing a pink dress, but it was completely stained from the rain._

"_But… I don't know…" Lucas said, about to cry._

"_Come on, Lucas! We've got to get out of this Drago Cavern!"_

"_It's ok, Flint'll find us," said Hinawa. "And Dragos are naturally kind, as you've learned from living with your grandfather."_

"_But… I'm really scared…" murmured Lucas._

"_Look! That's the cavern exit! We can get out!" said Claus, pointing at the dark exit._

"_Great! We can get out!"_

_The three began to run at the exit, but…_

"_ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAR!!!!!"_

_A massive green dinosaur appeared right at the exit._

"_It's a Drago!" said Claus._

"_Wait…" Lucas cautiously said. "Something's not right…"_

_The Drago wasn't completely green, but rather, half of it was made of metal._

"_Get back, boys!" said Hinawa. "That Drago's not in its right mind!"_

"_GRAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWR!!!!"_

_The Drago took slow steps towards the family of three, trapping them in a dead end._

"_Mom! I'm scared!!!" Lucas cried._

"_What is he going to do?" asked Claus._

"_No! You won't hurt these boys!" said Hinawa, standing in front of the boys and stretching her arms out._

"_GRAWWWR!" The Drago shot its head forward._

_SLASH!

* * *

_"_Flint!" a man cried. "We've found the boys here! They're outside! We're warming them up right now! The storm's calming down, so we could make a fire!"_

"_WHAT? You found them?" Flint, Hinawa's husband, cried. He had a cowboy's hand and a big mustache. He ran after the man to find Lucas and Claus wrapped in blankets, sitting by a fire._

"_Boys! Are you okay? Where is Hinawa?" Flint asked urgently._

_Lucas was crying his eyes out. Claus simply shook his head, unable to speak._

"_Flint…" the man appeared next to him. "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is I've got… a Drago Fang here."_

"_What good will that do here?" Flint asked angrily._

"_It'll make a great weapon, it's the only thing that pierces Drago skin. But the bad news is… where I found it…"_

"…_Go on," said Flint, his heart beating._

"…_I found it… I… Oh my goodness, I found it in Hinawa's heart!"_

_Flint was silent for a moment, holding the Drago Fang. He looked at it, noticing the blood on it._

"_I know… it's hard… but I'm sorry…"_

_Flint took out his stick and slammed it into that man's face, blowing him into a tree._

"_FLINT!!!" All the men around them cried._

_Flint whirled around, knocking away three at once with his strength. He kicked another in the chest. It took ten minutes before they were able to restrain him…

* * *

After Hinawa's funeral, Flint was released from the Tazmily prison._

"_I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" he said at Hinawa's grave. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you… The boys are growing up fine. I haven't seen Claus lately though."_

_He placed flowers again at her grave. It was becoming a daily routine for him to visit the grave every day._

_Lucas was sitting a few feet next to the grave, kneeling._

"_Lucas! What's wrong with you?" asked Flint._

"_I… uh… nothing!"_

_Flint knew something was wrong. "Lucas! I haven't seen Claus. Where is he?"_

"_Uh… uh… I don't know! He didn't go off to kill the Drago! I didn't… I…"_

_Flint stood up abruptly. The man next to him nodded._

"_It's a good thing you taught him to be honest," he said._

"_I have to go find Claus in the mountains," said Flint. "Wait for me here."_

_After searching, though, Flint couldn't find Claus nor the Drago that killed Hinawa. Claus was gone… He disappeared from the town. Only Flint and Lucas were left in the family…

* * *

For the next three years, Flint desperately searched for Claus in the mountains every day. He abandoned his jobs for his search. His one goal was to find Claus. The only other thing he did was visit Hinawa's grave._

_But Lucas had embarked on his quest for the seven needles. The time finally came for him to face the mysterious man that could use PSI just like him…_

_They were at the last needle, within the underworld. The last needle was before them, on a violet island surrounded by darkness._

"_That's the man again!" said Kumatora, one of Lucas's allies; she could also use PSI._

"_He's about to pull the needle!" said Duster, a thief. "We have to stop him!"_

_Lucas nodded. He was much older now. "Right!"_

_The masked man in gray glared at the party. "You… you're not going to stop me. PSI THUNDER OMEGA!"_

_KABOOM!_

_All of Lucas's allies were blasted away into unconsciousness. Lucas, however, was wearing the Franklin Badge, and it deflected the electricity back at the man._

_KZAP!_

"_UGH!!!!!" The man cried._

_Lucas stood before the masked man. He couldn't bring himself to finish him. He couldn't bring himself to attack him._

_Because he knew the man that was working under Porky… The one brainwashed by Porky...  
_

_The masked man raised his sword. "PSI FREEZE OMEGA!"_

_BAM! Lucas was froze on the spot._

"_Claus…" a feminine voice called out._

"_PSI FIRE OMEGA!"_

_KABOOM! Lucas was blown up._

"_Lucas…" the same voice cried._

_SLASH! The man slashed at Lucas's arm._

"_You're twin brothers…"_

"_PSI GROUND!"_

_BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!_

"_You can't be fighting!"_

_Lucas was almost unconscious, next to the brink of death._

"_Claus…" said Lucas. "I'm not strong enough… I can't attack you…"_

"_Do you know who I am?" asked the female voice. "Do you know who you are, Claus? You're my son! You are Lucas's twin brother!"_

_The masked man raised his sword briefly, shaking._

"_Please stop! You can't keep fighting!"_

"…_Mother?" muttered Lucas._

"_Do you know how hard it is… to see you two fighting after without seeing each other for three years?"_

_The man raised his other arm, grabbing his mask. Lucas stared through his bloody eyes to see him remove his mask, revealing a boy with Lucas's face, except with orange hair._

"_Claus…" Lucas muttered._

_Claus closed his eyes. "PSI THUNDER OMEGA!" He cried, mustering all his energy into this final attack and knowing it will be deflected._

_KABOOM!_

"_CLAUS!!!!"_

_Claus was blown up on the spot, next to death by his suicidal attack. Lucas rushed to his smoking body._

"_No… no… you can't be dead… no way…"_

"_Lucas…" Claus muttered. "You're not… a crybaby… anymore…"_

_Flint rushed into the scene. "Claus…"_

"_No… you can't die…" cried Lucas._

"_No… After all these years… I finally found you…" cried Flint, also crying._

"_I know… Porky will control me again… That's why… I have… to do this… Thank you…" said Claus, as he closed his eyes and faded away._

"_CLAUS!!!!!"

* * *

I've lost my mother… I've lost my brother…_

_But in the ends, it's all because of my mother… the power of Motherly Love…_

_I can't see this happen to another person… I can't…_

With all his willpower, Lucas grabbed his bottle and gulped it within a second. But he knew where Porky was by instinct, and so he used this…

"PSI STARSTORM!!!!!" He cried, never having used this attack ever before.

Like Ness's attack, several stars crashed down several feet from Ness's body, utterly destroying Porky's arms.

"ARGH!!!!!" Porky cried. Several sparks of electricity were seen in the air, clearly where the machine was.

Ness was staggering, barely able to walk.

_Lucas…_

_Ness…_

…_My last attack… and maybe my last breath…_

…_I know… I'm sorry I couldn't be quicker…_

…_Let's finish him._

…_it's for us. The universe. For my mother…_

…_Yeah, the power of motherly love… It's completely unstoppable. Nothing can stand up to it._

"You… YOU LITTLE BRATS!!!" Porky cried. "I STILL HAVE ONE MORE TRICK UP MY…"

Ness and Lucas raised their hands, mustering all the PSI within their bodies, until their energy was completely sapped.

"PSI ROCKIN OMEGA!!!!" Ness bellowed with his signature final move.

"PSI LOVE OMEGA!!!" Lucas bellowed with his signature final attack.

Several stripes of rainbow energy struck through Porky's machine, as if a massive lizard was slashing from above. After four slashes, two balls of rainbow energy circled around the machine at impossible speeds.

KABOOM!

They collided with each other and with Dark Porky, creating a massive explosion. The machine was split into two and Dark Porky was trapped within it.

But that was only Ness's attack.

Two pink hearts of energy appeared above Dark Porky, circling each other. They fell…

**KABOOM!!!**

Circles of pink energy flew out in all directions from the massive pink explosion. The machine was completely disintegrated. Dark Porky's body was gone. Completely gone.

It was over.

Ness fainted on the spot. Lucas rushed over to him, drinking another bottle of DX Water.

"No! PSI Lifeup Gamma!"

Green light surrounded Ness, but he still didn't budge.

"PSI Healing Gamma!!!" Lucas cried desperately.

_No! I can't watch another die before me, like my mother and my brother! I have to save him! I have to!_

"PSI Healing Gamma!!! PSI HEALING GAMMA!!!! WORK!!!!"

Ness still didn't move.

"…Ugh…" Lucas was exhausted. "PSI… Healing… OMEGA!!!!!!!" He cried, using all of his remaining energy.

Blue light flew into Ness's body. Ness's finger moved. His other hand twitched. His mouth opened briefly.

"Ugh…" Ness groaned. "I can't… move…"

Lucas fell to the ground, smiling. _I did it… I did it… I've saved… someone…_ he fainted on the spot.

A star appeared before the two boys, smiling. It was yellow, with a big white mustache. "You did it…" it said. "You've freed me... My name is Eldstar… And…"

He looked down. "I see… It seems like you are unable to move… With my power, I can fix that and return you to your comrades…"

He looked back to see several wired frames. "And I must hurry…"

What? A Star Spirit trapped? What does this mean? Find out (maybe) in the next chapter!


	111. Chapter 111: Light and Ice

Hack: Yes. This is an update. Your eyes do not deceive you. Yes, this is an update after a year long hiatus.

I am extremely sorry about this. I'm going to be honest; I lost interest in writing up the next chapter of the story because of this chapter. I couldn't think of anything for this chapter, and I got lazy every time, then the story disappeared from my mind as I began to get engulfed in, yes, college life. And unfortunately I couldn't think of much for this fight, because Pit and Ice Climbers really didn't have many tools in their games and movesets. The worst part is, I eventually got lazy and completely lost interest. I know I have no excuse for this. I won't leave this to die though, and I'm going to continue. Though I can't guarantee that I'll be writing on a frequent basis like before, I just can't leave such an epic story hanging for over a year. I promise you, I will not leave you on a hiatus this long ever again.

Again, I have no excuse for this and I sincerely apologize for the over-one-year wait. I also apologize if this fight is not very satisfactory, as I mentioned before, there isn't much to use about Pit and Ice Climber's games, so I had to make up a few things here and there. Hopefully I was creative enough to make this fight entertaining.

But enough of self-pitying myself. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 111: Light and Ice**

"So…" said Popo. "Anything we should know about this Medusa?"

Pit nodded. "Many things. She can sink into another dimension to completely regenerate herself, she can heal her snakes, all her snakes can fire lasers and detach themselves from her, and she has an ability that inflicts pain on you whenever you damage her."

"So anything we do to her we do to ourselves?" asked Nana in fear.

"Yes, but… She has a weak point that temporarily disables that ability, which is directly on her back, three feet and twenty-five degrees above ground."

"Huh?" both Ice Climbers said in unison and confusion.

"I am telling you where her…"

KABAM!

All three smashers jumped out of the way from a barrage of lasers.

"Do not worry about that, just do not directly attack Dark Medusa herself until I tell you!" yelled Pit, holding his shield to block more lasers.

"Like I'd give you the chance to hit me again!" said Medusa, dashing forward to attack Pit.

KABOOM!

She suddenly slipped on her feet; a small portion of the floor turned into ice as she fell on her back. Both Popo and Nana were above her, airborne, about to land a deadly vertical smash onto her face.

"Take this!" they cried.

KABOOM!

Medusa rolled out of the way while Pit scoffed. "A stupid trick to fall for," he said. "What a fool you are."

"I'm a fool?" Medusa replied angrily. "But you will be the one to die!"

The snakes suddenly dug into the ground, leaving a portion of the floor around Medusa peppered with holes.

"Are you foolish? You are leaving yourself defenseless…" said Pit, but he instantly knew what was going on. "Popo! Nana! Get into the air!"

It was too late. As Pit hovered in the air, all the snakes shot out of the ground like spikes, shocking whatever touched them. Popo and Nana were not so lucky.

"AHHH!!" Popo cried, feeling a snake shoot through his arm and electrocuting his entire body.

"AHHH!!" Nana cried, almost losing her foot to a thin snake shooting electricity through her.

More snakes were about to swarm them, but several arrows were simultaneously fired through them, disintegrating them.

"Ah… Thanks, Pit," said Popo, leaning on his hammer.

"Watch out!" cried Pit. He swiftly glided down and grabbed both Popo and Nana by their collars, just to watch the entire floor become engulfed in electricity.

"If you didn't know, the floor conducts electricity," said Dark Medusa. "My pet snakes can shock the entire floor as well."

"Sorry about that…" Nana apologized to Pit.

"It is all right," Pit replied kindly. "But…" _How can I fight when both my arms are carrying my companions?_

"Ha!" More lasers were fired at the three hovering in the air. Pit flew out of the way, continuously dodging more and more lasers.

"Pit! Throw us at Medusa!" said Popo.

"What? Are you insane?" cried Pit. "You are going to be shocked and killed!"

"But at this rate…" said Nana. "We're going to die; you can't fight, and we can't do anything to help."

Pit closed his eyes for a brief moment. "…Although we have not known each other much, I believe I can trust you. Do not die."

Two lasers flew at him; Pit narrowly dove between them, shooting himself at Dark Medusa.

"About to attack me? That's suicide!" said Dark Medusa, ready to counter-attack.

"Here I come!" cried Popo. Pit threw Popo at Dark Medusa, whose eye turned red once again.

FOOM!

Popo shot a blast of misty ice into Dark Medusa's face, freezing her for a split second. He fell onto the ground, but pivoted on his hammer, barely balancing on it while protecting himself from the electric trap on the floor.

Meanwhile Pit was right behind Medusa, and threw Nana at her. Dark Medusa broke out of her ice trap and was ready to counter attack.

SPLAT!

Nana slammed the head of her hammer onto the snake's face behind Medusa, flattening it into a pancake. She was unfortunate, though, to land on the floor, and felt the shocks from it.

"AHHHHH!!!" She screamed. But Pit had to ignore her for this to work…

SHING!

Pit fired several arrows, all aimed at the blind spot at Medusa's back. All the arrows surrounded her; Medusa, whose snakes were all momentarily gone, was unable to protect herself.

The first arrow that struck her was in her weak spot, stunning her for a brief moment. The electric trap of the underground snakes were off, and she is now unable to counterattack.

"Nana!!!" Popo cried.

"No! We must attack now!" cried Pit. "While she is vulnerable!"

"I will not let you do that!" said Dark Medusa. "Take this!"

Several more lasers were fired, this time at Nana, who was vulnerable. Pit flew directly in front of her, blocking the lasers with his shield and deflecting them back.

Popo was running at Medusa, firing ice block after ice block. The snakes around her knocked them to the side, but Popo was still approaching little by little.

Dark Medusa whirled around to protect herself from Popo, but her back was exposed to Pit and Nana.

"Here Pit!" Nana cried, freezing Pit's bow.

"Thank you!" Pit was running at Dark Medusa, but the snakes behind her were also attacking. Nana from behind send ice blocks flying at Pit to protect him though. Pit split his bow into two daggers…

"HI YA YA YA!!!" He cried, spinning them like a top into Medusa's exposed back. The daggers spun around Pit's hands so quickly that they looked like a halo. The daggers continuously slashed through Medusa's back, sending shards of ice everywhere with Nana's power-up on Pit's bow.

"ENOUGH!" Dark Medusa cried. Her body engulfed itself in flames, shooting Pit off of her back and melting her frozen wounds.

"Fire? That's no good, we're ice!" Popo cried in desperation.

"I never realized that you used fire," said Pit. _Has she been holding back this entire time? This makes Popo and Nana's ice powers more or less useless…_

"Fool, I have been made by the fires of hell, don't you think that I could use fire as well?" said Medusa. "It is time to take off the beginner's gloves! It's time to fight for real!"

Medusa's entire body engulfed in fire. The icy floor instantly melted and the snakes were now on fire.

"TAKE THIS! YOUR HAMMERS AND ICE WILL BURN!!!"

Several flaming snakes shot at Popo, who was about to hold up his hammer in defense.

"Agh!" cried Popo as his hammer set on fire. He took no damage, but the hammer was on fire.

"Popo!" cried Nana, but she was slammed in the stomach by a burning snake and sent flying into the wall. Her hammer was knocked out of her hand, set aflame as well.

"No! Our hammers!" cried Popo. He instantly took out the fire by freezing his hammer, but Nana's hammer was still flying in the air, over Medusa. Medusa's eye swelled red, burning with fire…

"Got it!" bellowed Pit as he flew in the air, catching Nana's flaming hammer. He spun to the side to avoid the massive fireball, which left a massive explosion behind him.

"Right here!" said Popo. "Get the hammer to Nana!"

But Pit had a better idea. He took out an arrow of light and slammed it into Nana's burning hammer, empowering it with the power of holiness.

Popo caught on. "Nana! Together!" Nana also knew what he was planning on the spot and she grabbed the hilt of Popo's hammer. They both pushed in their ice powers into the hammer, transforming it into a glowing white hammer covered in freezing shards of ice.

"Ha! You don't even know how to wield a…" said Medusa, but rather than attacking Medusa directly, he flew around her with lightning speed, expertly taking out all of the snakes with his shining hammer. He and Popo then appeared directly above Dark Medusa, about to deal a final dual blow…

"The power of light…" said Pit.

"The power of ice…" said Popo.

"Together we form the power of HOLY ICE!!"

They both shot down, holding out their hammers, and about to slam them into Medusa's eyes.

KABOOM!

Shards of ice and wood flew everywhere. The entire room was covered in dust. Nana was coughing, wondering what had happened.

"Is she… gone?" Nana asked quietly.

The smoke cleared out. Both Pit and Popo were standing up, unarmed. Both of the Ice Climber's hammers were shattered into pieces. Dark Medusa was on the ground, not moving.

"You guys? We did it! She's gone!" cried Nana.

"No…" said Pit, turning around. His face was completely bloodied, and his entire body was shaking. He could barely stand.

"She countered us with that…" said Popo, whose Eskimo suit was almost completely blood red. "And she's still… alive."

Dark Medusa stood up, cackling. "HA HA HA! I admit… That was a powerful attack… But at this rate, you will die before I will! I can endure more wounds than you!"

"Brother… can you stand?" asked Nana.

"We can still… do this…" said Popo.

"I apologize… your weapons…" said Pit. He was holding a splinter in his hand; the rest of the hammer was completely torn into pieces, flung all over the room.

Popo through out his wooden stick. "We don't need our hammers… for this though… to disable her counter attack, there's only one other way…"

"What is it you plan?" asked Pit. "I have only one other method to finish her off, but it will take time, and will be near impossible to complete…"

"You need time? We're the perfect pair to ask!" said Nana.

"Are you sure you can hold off Medusa long enough? Thirty Seconds is all I ask," asked Pit.

"Yes," said Popo. "Let's go, Nana!"

The two Eskimos held hand, dashing at Dark Medusa.

"Still not dead yet, eh? You can hardly even move, you blue idiot!" Dark Medusa bellowed at Popo. "Take this!"

Several fire beams were fired at the ice pair of smashers, but they skated across the floor, weaving in and out of most of the beams. A few hit Popo, but he couldn't waste time agonizing over the pain burning through his body.

_This is our last chance of survival, and if this fails… I don't know what could happen…_ thought Popo.

"We control ice…" said Nana.

"And you control fire," said Popo.

"Whose is stronger? I guess we'll see now!" said Nana.

Both of them were floating above Medusa, standing on an ice platform.

"Huh?" said Medusa.

"**ICEBURG!!!**" they both cried.

A massive stalactite of ice shot up from the ground, engulfing Dark Medusa in ice. Medusa had no time to respond as she was completely frozen solid. Both Ice Climbers fell to the ground, completely exhausted from using their final attack.

"The target will… never thaw… for over a million years… because it's so cold…" said Nana.

"But she'll break out… soon…" said Popo. Already, steam was flowing out of Dark Medusa.

A snake broke out, its head aflame. A second snake broke out, ready to strike…

"No way… That couldn't even… stall her for over ten seconds?" gasped Nana.

The iceburg encasing Dark Medusa shattered. Dark Medusa was roaring, eager to destroy the two smashers that had just froze her.

"That was rather cold…" she said, setting herself on fire. "Now then, time for some roasted Eskimos! ERUPTION!"

Popo and Nana both dashed sideways to avoid a massive pillar of fire.

"Wow, she's seriously pissed off!" said Popo.

"And then… FLAMETHROWER!"

A lot like Jigglypuff's flamethrower, but with a lot more magma, a stream of magma cascaded through the air, seeking to melt all of Popo and Nana.

"AHHHH!!" They both cried as they ran for their lives. They turned around while running, firing ice block after ice block, but the ice instantly evaporated without even turning into water before coming anywhere near the lava stream!

"GWAH HA HA!" YOU ALL SHOULD MELT RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!" cried Dark Medusa. Suddenly, her hand stopped spewing magma. "…What?"

Surrounding her were five rods of light shaping a pentagon, with Dark Medusa stuck in the center. Popo and Nana were both outside of the pentagon.

"You both did excellent… Allow me to deal the finishing blow…" panted Pit. His legs were wobbling, and his arm was almost burned off, but he was determined to see this to the end.

"What is this? That same paralyzing move you did on me earlier?" said Dark Medusa.

Pit smiled. "Thanks to the ice attack, you were frozen for ten seconds. You spent another five seconds attacking the Ice Climbers without paying attention to me. I knew I couldn't finish the job if I took my time, so I had to use up all my energy to plant these."

"But it won't kill me! What can you do?" laughed Dark Medusa.

"Remember what I said… about three rods doing the job? Imagine what would happen if I used five rods of Palutena's holiness…" said Pit.

"Wait… no way…"

"You will face her real judgment of heaven and hell."

Pit turned around, flinging his hand to his side.

"**PALUTENA'S JUDGEMENT!!!**" He bellowed.

A massive pentagonal pillar of light shot down from the sky, destroying it. It engulfed Dark Medusa, and every bit of her began to disintegrate. The entire room was absolutely destroyed, leaving only those outside of the pentagon of rods unscathed.

"**NOOOOOOO**!!!" She cried as her body turned into ash and flew into the massive hole in the ground, following the direction of Palutena's light.

Dark Medusa was finally gone.

"Thank… god…" said Pit, falling to the ground unconscious.

"Literally…" said Popo, also closing his eyes.

Nana, the least injured, turned to the both of them. "We did it…" she said. She turned around to see hundreds of wired frames climbing out of the hole, about to surround the three smashers.

"Is it all… for nothing?" gasped Nana. Suddenly, a star appeared from the hole…


	112. Chapter 112: Power Levels Overestimated

Hack: Yes, this is another updated within the same month. I admit, this is another one of those transition chapters / break from fights, and the mini-fight here is pretty one-sided and lame. But all the same, you all have more to look forward to in the next few chapters!

**Recap:** The Dark Knight, Dark Porky, and Dark Medusa have all fallen under the hands of Ike, Marth, Ness, Lucas, Pit, Popo, and Nana! But there are still many more dark commanders left for the smashers to take out. Luigi is confronted by Dark Cackletta in front of the castle of the Battlefield. The Starfox team has just sensed a bomb on the universe, ready to blow up the smashers.

Meanwhile, Peach and Yoshi are confronted by Grodus in the Dark Forest, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong found a Dark Ship in the ocean, Link and Ganondorf are lost in the Dark Desert, Kirby, Olimar, and Isaac are confronted by the Male and Female Wired Frames, and Fox, Falcon, and Jigglypuff are about to fight the Alloy Leaders.

* * *

**Chapter 112: Power Levels Overestimated**

"Wow, look at all these treasures!" said Diddy Kong, opening up a treasure chest in the Dark Ship.

"Diddy, this isn't the time to be pillaging!" said Donkey Kong.

"Well it's just interesting. It's kinda weird how there's this ship full of treasure floating in the middle of the ocean right now," said Diddy.

"Or rather suspicious…" said Donkey Kong. "There has to be something hidden on this ship."

The two monkeys continued searching for anything that might turn out to be useful. Around them were black wooden walls and chandeliers hanging on the ceiling. Strewn around the floor were several open treasure chests, with gold and jewels spilling out.

"ROAR!"

The entire ship shook violently.

"Whoa!" said Diddy, leaning on the wall for balance.

DK simply stood still. "We might have hit something… or we might have a visitor," he said, listening to the footsteps above.

Diddy held his ground, crouching low and whispering," Who do you think it is?"

DK held a finger up at his mouth. "Let's go up and check," he said."

* * *

"What? I thought you were dead!" said Diddy, pointing a finger at the lizard in front of them.

"Me? Dead? No, no, no, you have it all wrong! My predecessor was taken out by Alex, but I am much stronger than all of them!"

Dark King K. Rool as a very fat Kremling. His gray scales shone like armor, and his dark blue cape was flying with the wind. He was standing on the deck of the ship in front of DK and Diddy, smirking. His dark belly button disgustingly protruded outward, his yellow fingernails were long and sharpened, ready to cut. His yellow crown perched on his head.

"I never expected to see you, Rool," said DK, holding out his long arms, readying himself for combat.

"I assure you, I will not let either of you leave this place alive!" said K. Rool. "I am fifteenth-in-command of the Dark Entities, Dark King K. Rool!"

* * *

"Are we far enough yet," asked Geno, panting.

"We're far enough away," grunted Bowser. "I wanted to give that Cackletta some revenge for taking my body over back then…"

"Let me remind you that she is Dark Cackletta, a completely different entity who did not do anything that the original Cackletta did do."

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Bowser.

"Heh heh… you are as naïve as ever, Bowser. I suppose that's something I like about you though; you're simple," laughed Geno.

"Hey! Do you wanna fight?" growled Bowser.

"Ha ha! Who would win? We should have some friendly competition after all of this is over!" said Geno, holding out his puppet arm cannon.

"You're just scared that I'll win! But yeah, that can wait. You'll definitely need my monstrous strength to get through what's ahead."

"I suppose part of that strength comes from my own powers as well, but I agree, we will need to work together," agreed Geno.

Before the two of them lied a massive black tower. Thunder cackled at the very top.

"You suppose a Dark dude is up there?" asked Bowser.

"Undoubtedly. Why else would there be a tower here? Are you ready, Bowser?" asked Geno.

Bowser unsheathed his claws. "Ready as you are." The two of them dashed into the tower…

* * *

"Another castle?" said Zelda.

"We've seen way too many of these," said (Young) Link, shaking his head.

They were directly outside of a dark forest, confronted by a wide castle surrounded by a pool of magma. The castle was levitated far above the ground on a floating stalactite, daring those who dare to come in.

"Any way over the lava?" asked Link.

"Farore's wind can't reach that far," said Zelda.

"Well I've got a way. Grab my hand!" said Link.

Zelda grabbed Young Link's hand as Link equipped a white cape. They both suddenly jumped miles high into the air, at the same altitude as the entrance of the castle. Before they started to fall, Link took a green leaf out of his pocket and opened it, allowing the pair to parachute themselves towards the castle.

"Wow, where did you get something like that?" asked Zelda.

"…Let's not ask about that, it's pretty complicated," said Young Link as they both landed by the entrance to the castle. "That also used up all my magic… Any green potion?"

"Of course. Are you ready?" asked Zelda.

"Yeah… We've gotta be ready for what's up there. Luigi gave us the task to take out a Dark Entity and get a key for ourselves. We've got to play our part in this war!"

* * *

"So if we just trash you alloys, we get your key?" asked Fox.

"Well we don't have any of the keys to the castle," sniggered the Red Alloy.

"Yep, since you three are the ones most likely to defeat the Dark Entities, we were assigned to fight you all and hold you off," said Yellow.

"You realize that we're the most powerful members?" said Jigglypuff. "We can easily destroy your entire army single-handedly."

"But the Dark Entities aren't the only ones powered up," said Blue, whipping her hair back.

Green puffed himself up. "Nope. We're at the same power level as Metaknight himself!" he said. "Our power levels exceed his, and none of you stand any chance against us!"

"Well let me tell you something, yo," said Captain Falcon. "Unless you really are that powerful, power level means nothing unless…"

He instantly appeared beside Yellow, his arm around his neck.

"You **show me ya moves!**"

KABOOM!

Red was in front of yellow, sending a fist at Falcon's face. Captain Falcon instantly disappeared, dodging the blow.

Yellow spun out of Falcon's way and went for Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff send flying a flamethrower attack that curved, following Yellow. Blue teleported right besides Jigglypuff, about to attack her, but Fox was there to cover his ally and slammed his staff into Blue, sending her flying.

Red and Falcon were in another speed battle, naturally because Red was modeled after Captain Falcon.

"Bullet Punch!" They both cried, sending fists of steel at each other. Both collided, releasing a massive explosion in the middle of the sky. Neither were blown away, but Falcon spun around, instantly slamming his leg into Red's side. Red used Falcon's leg for momentum to spin vertically, aiming a kick at Falcon's face. Falcon blocked the blow with his elbow, bringing his other leg up for…

"FALCON KNEE!"

A combination of fire and electricity engulfed Red, sending him flying through the sky. Falcon immediately landed and ran to dodge a beam of ice from Blue.

"You can't run away from me!" cried Blue as she teleported right beside Falcon, releasing explosions of magic from her hands.

Falcon rolled away from the attack and spun around to face Blue. Blue held her arms out, spinning in place.

"That Nayru's Love? It ain't gonna work against me!" said Falcon, raising his leg up.

"A more powerful version!" said Blue as a cold diamond of ice surrounded her, about to fire it at Falcon.

"DIAMOND BLADE!"

"FALCON KICK!"

Both collided with another explosion, and neither were scathed by each other's attacks. Both Falcon and Blue began to fight in close-range with each other, Falcon using his physical arms and legs and Blue using her magic to power up her attacks.

Meanwhile, Fox and Jigglypuff were fending off Green and Yellow.

"Thunder Tornado!" Yellow cried, spinning in place while shooting sparks of electricity all around him, mimicking Mario's Tornado attack.

Jigglypuff hid underneath the barrier created by Fox's staff. Fox, with his right hand on his staff, pulled out his powered-up blaster with his left hand and began firing it at Green, who poofed himself out of the way.

"The barrier can't hold on much longer," said Fox as sparks of lightning fired at the barrier.

"Leave it to me! Use your reflector!" said Jigglypuff. She hopped out of the barrier, away from Yellow, while Fox turned off his barrier, turning on his reflector. The electricity bounced off of his reflector, but he couldn't hold on much longer.

Jigglypuff jumped over Fox and into the onslaught of electricity, turning yellow.

"Charge!" she cried, absorbing all of the electricity. Yellow immediately stopped spinning.

"Huh?" he said.

Green came at Jigglypuff from behind, charging up a whirlwind in his hands, but Fox blasted him away with the sniper rifle. Jigglypuff held out her arms, charging electricity.

"Thunderbolt!" she cried. But because she absorbed the electricity using charge, her lightning attack was much stronger! There was a massive yellow explosion of electricity where Yellow stood, decimating him…

Or not. Yellow was standing there, completely unaffected!

"Ha! You've gotta do more than that to hurt me!" he said.

"Wait, Jiggs," said Fox. "If electricity didn't do anything to him, and he uses electricity, then that means he's immune to electricity!"

"And Green uses wind, Red uses Fire, and Blue uses Ice," said Jigglypuff. "They have their respective immunities, but also their respective weaknesses!"

"So you've figured it out?" said Yellow. "But I'm afraid that won't work."

"Yeah," said Green. "I mean, you can't fight someone of your own type since you, the puffball, can only use electricity!"

Jigglypuff fired a stream of fire at Green. "Oh boy, you are so wrong about that," she smirked.

"And I can do much more than you think I can," said Fox. "Falcon! I think we've wasted enough time here!"

Falcon got into a dreadlock of arms with Red, with Blue injured on the floor at the side. "Ya think? Finally I get to show my moves off!"

Fox instantly transformed into his red Brave Form, holding his two signature staffs.

"Two staffs? One extra staff won't help…" said Yellow.

But before he could finish his sentence, Fox was already behind him, holding out his two staffs. Yellow split into three pieces and blew up into sparks on the spot.

"Yellow??" cried Green.

"Watch your back!" said Jigglypuff. "You're a flying type, so naturally electricity will destroy you!"

Jigglypuff sped up in front of Green.

"No! Die!" he cried, firing hurricanes at Jigglypuff.

"_Volt Tackle!_"

Jigglypuff plowed through all of the hurricanes without taking any damage. Before long, she was in front of green, charged with electricity.

KABOOM!

She plowed right through the center of Green, creating a gaping hole in him. He, too, blew up on the spot.

"You made a big mistake in fighting me, young lady," said Captain Falcon.

"Hey! You're not hurting Blue!" said Red. Stay away from…"

KABOOM!

Falcon's elbow appeared out of nowhere, as if it appeared from the shadows! Red was blown away into the wall.

"You think you can take me on? Ice can take on Fire!" she cried, firing a mist of ice to slow down Falcon. "This slows down everything, even Wolf according to my data!"

"HA! You think that'll slow me down enough?" said Falcon. He was already up at her face, overcoming the ice mist.

"No! Ice Tornado!" she cried, covering herself in a mist of ice to protect herself.

"SHADOW BULLET PUNCH!"

Falcon's right arm blazed with fire as he punched forward, teleporting his arm forward with the help of his shadow. It was sticking through Blue's chest, melting her from within.

KABOOM!

She was completely gone as well. All that was left was Red.

"You… you…" Red angrily said. "You destroyed my allies!"

"And the same will happen to you if you won't get out of the way," said Fox.

Red began to glow. "If I'm going to die here… I might as well take all of you with me!" he said. "And running away won't help!"

"So you're going to blow up? That's so cliché," said Fox.

"Prepare to die!" said Red, about to blow up. "My explosion will cover the entire battlefield and kill everyone on this universe! Remember that my forte is in fire, so naturally my self-destruction system will be even more powerful!"

"Psh, yeah right," said Jigglypuff. "Not if I have anything to say about that. _Barrier!_**"**

A barrier of energy appeared around Red, and Red looked around anxiously. "What?"

**KABOOM!**

The barrier was constantly fighting against the fires of Red's explosion, but it was kept intact. The fires kept serving around each other within Jigglypuff's barrier, unable to escape. After a few minutes, it died down and Jigglypuff rested.

"Weaklings," said Falcon. "We've wasted enough time here, yo"

"There's a difference between power level and actual skill," said Fox. "My body itself knows that all of you combined would be no match for Metaknight, yet you scoff at his memory."

"I never knew you had a respect for him," said Jigglypuff.

"Yeah, dude, I mean, that guy almost killed you several times!" said Captain Falcon.

"I know. And yet, I have a feeling that he was always truly on our side," replied Fox.

_"I wish… I could apologize… to Kirby… Give him my apologies for me… He'll understand…" said Metaknight._

"You remember that, dude?" asked Falcon. "You were unconscious!"

"My spirit seems to remember what happened in his last few moments," said Fox. "And he always spoke of potential, how his own potential could never reach mine.

All this time, it feels like Metaknight's role in this adventure was to make me stronger.

And it did. I don't know where I'd be without Metaknight as my eternal rival. Even after his death, I still feel his spirit speaking to me."

"Well if you say so," said Jigglypuff. "But we'll have to ask Kirby about this when we have the chance."

"The copy-cat puffball seems to be the only one who knows anything about Metaknight's past," said Falcon.

"But all of us grew. Together. And it's hard to believe that we're all here in a final battle," said Fox.

"That's true. I can't believe it, even now, that our adventure is ending. All of the enemies we fought… Black Shadow, Alex, Mewtwo…"

"Wolf, Ridley, and everyone else…" Falcon added.

"Yes. We're almost there. Who knows what lies ahead?" Jigglypuff asked. "But what we need to do now is snag one of those keys for us for the castle."

"Yeah! Enough rambling, let's get on with business!" said Fox.


	113. Chapter 113: Dark Grodus

Hack: Finally, the next big fight of the series, and an anticipated fight that I've left off a few chapters ago! Peach and Yoshi versus Dark Grodus.

And I know all of you will hate me… because it's not even done yet!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 113: Dark Grodus**

"Heh heh heh… A princess and her stead. That's an interesting duo," said Dark Grodus, holding his long staff in both hands.

"We've defeated you before," said Yoshi. "And we've defeated the Dark Queen and all of your servants! How do you think you can stand a chance against us two?"

"Two means nothing if neither know how to fight," said Grodus.

"You're really underestimating us," said Peach. "Just because I'm a princess…"

"And just because I'm a dinosaur…" added Yoshi.

"Doesn't mean that we won't be kicking your ass!" they both cried.

Yoshi tossed an egg at Dark Grodus, who levitated away from the explosion.

"Hmph! A simple egg to initiate the fight… very well then, I shall show you just a small bit of my power…" said Grodus. Four green spheres appeared around him, creating a green force field protecting him between them. Each sphere had an eyeball popping out, blinking at Peach and Yoshi.

"What're those?" asked Yoshi.

"I don't know, I was asleep when Mario fought Grodus originally…" said Peach.

"These… are my minions. Grodus X, I call each of them. With these in play, neither of you will be leaving this forest alive…"

"Screw that, we're taking you down ASAP," said Yoshi. He was already up above Grodus, ready to ground pound him.

CLANG!

"Wait, what?" Peach gasped.

Yoshi harmlessly bounced off of the force field, barely doing any damage to it. The Grodus X were blowing raspberries at him.

"Finished? My turn," said Grodus. "_Spark Plasma_."

Seven very familiar bolts of violet lightning struck down upon the duo. The entire forest was burnt into a crisp. Smoke flew everywhere, so much that even Grodus could not see where his enemies were. The lightning bolts were that violent.

"I have obtained the ability to use Jupiter Psyenergy, little brats," said Dark Grodus. "Seeing as my abilities are naturally aligned with lightning…"

After the smoke cleared out, though, only a yellow sphere was present. Neither Peach nor Yoshi were anywhere!

"Hmm?"

The yellow sphere opened up, revealing Peach riding on Yoshi. Six eggs were following behind Yoshi, and Yoshi grabbed one of them.

He instantly tossed an egg at one of the Grodus X, shattering it into pieces. Dark Grodus finally grasped what was going on and teleported away from Yoshi.

"How did you survive that?" Dark Grodus asked.

"That's my own ability," said Peach. "And you're the one who has to find it out. After all, learning about your enemy's abilities is half the fun, right?"

"And I learned after destroying a Grodus X, that your barrier weakens. I'm guessing your four Grodus X create the barrier?" said Yoshi.

"Ha! Not bad! Yes, you are correct, and you have destroyed one by a fluke. However, every ten seconds I regenerate two automatically…" said Dark Grodus as one new Grodus X reappeared, strengthening the barrier once again.

"Oh great…" mumbled Yoshi. "How are we going to do this?"

"Teamwork," said Peach. "They regenerate quickly, so we have to take them out quickly. Luckily, they seem fragile as one egg takes one out."

"I can't throw four eggs at once!" exclaimed Yoshi.

"Enough talk! _Destruct Ray!_"

Three yellow bolts of lightning rotated around each other, spinning in place. The pillar of lightning chased Yoshi and Peach around, burning holes within the ground.

"Well I don't have reliable projectiles, except…" said Peach, but an idea came to her head.

Before she could say anything else, though, Grodus teleported right behind Yoshi and fired a beam of ice through his staff.

Yoshi didn't see Grodus, but Peach, being on Yoshi's back, reacted instantly. She took out her yellow parasol and opened it, spinning it in place. It deflected the ice beam back at Grodus, destroying one Grodus X.

"What? An umbrella? What trickery is this?" gasped Grodus.

BAM!

Another Grodus X was gone. Peach seemingly teleported right behind Grodus, and had thrown a turnip at the Grodus X, shattering it into pieces. Yoshi, who was in front of Grodus, fired another egg at a third Grodus X.

Only one left.

"_Spark Plasma!_"

"This attack again? Yoshi, hurry up!" said Peach.

Yoshi dashed towards Peach before the sweeping onslaught of lightning rained down. Once the smoke cleared out, though, a yellow sphere was visible again in front of Grodus.

"I see, so that parasol can protect you from my lightning attacks…" said Dark Grodus.

Peach opened up her umbrella, revealing herself. "It's a magic parasol that's strong enough to deflect even your attacks," said Peach, pointing it at him. "You may laugh now, but you'll be down on the ground before you know it!"

"Try me."

KABOOM!

"Wha-What?" gasped Grodus as he whirled around to see Yoshi behind him, finishing his egg-throwing stance.

"Number four, downed. Now, Peach!"

Peach was already prepared. Her tennis racket was in her right hand, and she got into her power shot pose, ready to jump at the unsuspecting Dark Grodus.

"Not yet!" Dark Grodus yelled, about to teleport. "…What?"

On his butt was Yoshi's tongue, keeping him pinned to the ground.

"Too bad, you'll have to learn how to fight two at once," said Yoshi, with his tongue out.

Hearts formed around Peach's tennis racket as she jumped at Grodus, slamming it down on his head.

KABOOM!

Hearts flew everywhere as Peach completed her power shot, releasing a massive earthquake. The hearts covered Yoshi's sight, and Yoshi released his tongue.

"…Did you get him?" asked Yoshi.

The hearts cleared away, revealing Peach on top of Dark Grodus. Grodus was smirking; there was no notable damage on him!

"…Is that all? No wonder women are deemed weak!" said Grodus. "Princesses should stay as damsels… IN THEIR VILLAIN'S HANDS!"

Peach was stabbed in the stomach by Grodus's rod, sent flying by the electric shock. Though her physical chest wasn't punctured, she was on the ground, unable to move momentarily.

"No! That was Peach's best move!" gasped Yoshi.

"You may have been able to get me off guard, but…" Two Grodus X appeared around Grodus, creating the barrier. "Even with all your strength, you cannot even hurt me!"

Peach slowly got up, using her tennis racket to support herself. "…So… my power shot… couldn't do anything… Even after all that training?"

"Don't mind, Peach, we'll find a way to beat him," said Yoshi, reaching Peach's side. "He still hasn't seen our true trump cards…"

"Pah! It's time to finish you two weaklings! _Heat wave!_"

A massive beam of magma fired at Peach. Yoshi immediately grabbed her with his tongue, placed her on his back, and jumped into the air, fluttering to hover.

Yoshi was directly above Grodus, about to use a ground pound.

"HIYAH!" He cried, shooting downwards.

Grodus teleported away, but near enough to get another clear shot at Yoshi. However, for some reason, Yoshi's body was yellow!

Before Grodus knew what happened, a huge shockwave swept across the forest, taking out all the trees and his remaining Grodus X.

"No!" Dark Grodus cried. "But if you're on the ground, I won't let you stay on the ground! _Earthquake!_"

Another shockwave formed from Grodus's staff, sweeping across the ground.

"Yoshi! Jump!" Peach cried.

"On it!" Yoshi jumped high into the air, fluttering again. The earthquakes continued, however, and would not end.

"I can't… flutter… any more…" Yoshi gasped, about to fall.

"Ha ha! You'll be down before you know it!" said Dark Grodus.

But Yoshi still hovered in the air, without even moving his legs! His skin was now a shade of dark blue, and on his sides were…

"…Wings?" said Dark Grodus.

Yoshi shot down at Grodus again with a powerful ground pound, his skin turning yellow now. Grodus immediately understood what was going on and teleported to higher ground, avoiding the massive shockwaves.

"I see… you change your form into yellow or dark blue," said Dark Grodus, two of his Grodus X reforming again. "And Peach feeds you shells…"

"The blue shell gives Yoshi wing powers," said Peach. "And the Yellow Shell makes his ground pounds much more powerful."

"Too bad you caught on quickly though," said Yoshi. "Otherwise that shockwave would've gotten you before your barrier came back."

"I'm a mage as well as a tactician. You can't trick me that easily again!" said Dark Grodus. "_Ice Beam!_"

He fired a massive beam of ice at the pair of smashers. They both could've easily dodged, but instead, Yoshi had a different idea.

"Peach! You know what to feed me!"

"Right!"

Yoshi turned red after eating a red shell and fired a beam of fire to combat the beam of ice. The two beams collided halfway between Grodus and Yoshi, each trying to overcome the other.

"Ha!" Grodus shot his staff forward, the beam of ice beginning to overpower Yoshi's fire powers.

From above, though, two turnips fired down upon Grodus, destroying both Grodus X with ease. Grodus looked up to see Peach in the air, but he was unable to teleport because of his stance to shoot his ice beam.

"I have a present for you," said Peach, holding a bob-omb in her hands. "I was lucky enough to pluck this out of the ground!" She fired it down at Dark Grodus.

But a brief force field appeared around Grodus to block the bob-omb! Grodus had used his other hand to create the shield, bouncing the bob-omb off of him, at the sacrifice of letting the beam of fire get closer.

Suddenly, several hearts floated to the bob-omb and carried them back to Peach, who was still floating in the air. She slammed the bob-omb with her tennis racket down at Grodus.

Before Grodus could react, he mustered all of his energy into his staff, overpowering Yoshi's fire beam with his ice beam.

KABOOM!

Yoshi was frozen on the spot, unable to move. At the same time, the bob-omb exploded right where Dark Grodus was, creating a massive carrier.

"Yoshi!" Peach cried, running to him. But she was slammed in the back by a staff, sending her flying into a tree.

"I defeated Yoshi with my ice, allowing me to teleport to safety," said Dark Grodus, his barrier forming again because of the two new Grodus X. "But now that you're by yourself, what are you going to do?"

"All I've got do…" said Peach. "Is defrost Yoshi!"

But before she could do anything, a lightning bolt was directed at her, slightly to the side, forcing her to jump away from Yoshi.

"And makes you think… I'll let you do that?" asked Dark Grodus, smirking. "You're on your own, little damsel, and your main fighting partner is gone. What can you do?"

"I'm not the typical damsel you think I am, I can actually fight," said Peach.

"How about a game?" Grodus turned off his force field, to Peach's surprise! "You try to even damage me… If you can even hit me. Your strongest ability hardly fazed me either."

"Are you mocking me?" asked Peach. "You are making a major mistake here, because…"

KABOOM!

Peach was instantly in her shorts and practically teleported right up to Dark Grodus's face, about to slam her crown into his face.

"I'm a smasher!"

"Nice resolution. Too bad that crown hardly damaged me," smirked Dark Grodus as the crown clanged off of his face. "My turn."

KABOOM!

Grodus shot his staff forward, creating a massive explosion at its very tip. Peach was quick enough to get away, avoiding the explosion.

"Oh ho, so you're faster than I thought…"

Peach ran towards Yoshi, carrying a bottle of yellow liquid to heal him, but Dark Grodus teleported right between them.

"Out of…" said Peach.

CLANG!

"MY WAY!"

Her frying pan slammed into Dark Grodus's head, leaving a loud clanging sound. Again, he was unfazed.

KABOOM!

Grodus struck Peach with his staff, sending her flying. "I don't even need to use my spells to defeat you," he said. "You're just a simple damsel in distress… useless… and a waste of time and space for everyone else!"

An idea came to Peach's head. Peach stood up, panting. Her hair was spotted black and her top was stained black as well. Her shorts had rips here and there from the explosions.

"Well… if you don't need spells…" she said, holding out her hand. "Then I'll just stop them! _Mute!_"

Dark Grodus looked around to see nothing happen. He looked up to see a balloon with a white X mark on it.

"What is this?" asked Grodus. "But whatever it is, it cannot hurt me!"

BOOM!

It exploded right above Grodus's head, seemingly doing nothing.

"Ha! So your trick does… nothing… What?" He gasped, holding his staff out. "I can't cast…"

"That's right, I just muted you. You can't cast any spells for the next five minutes."

"Pah! That doesn't matter, as you're so weak anyways! I don't need to summon my Grodus X!"

"Oh really?" Peach pulled out another bob-omb from her dress. "You'd be surprised how powerful a bob-omb can be." She lit the bob-omb with a match, ready for a game of hot-potato.

"If you can hit me, that is," said Dark Grodus.

BAM!

Peach slammed her tennis racket into the bob-omb again, firing it at Dark Grodus. Unable to teleport, Grodus glided to the side, slamming his staff into the bob-omb to deflect it.

BAM!

Peach barely blocked the attack, holding her tennis racket in front of her face to block the bob-omb. The bob-omb was high up in the air from the accidental lob, perfect for a smash.

KABAM!

Surprisingly quick for a magic-user, Dark Grodus was up in the air, his cape flaring and his eyes focused on the bob-omb, and smashed it down at Peach.

Peach held out her tennis racket to her side, barely blocking the bob-omb. She was pushed back several feet from the power of the smash. Her leg muscles began to tighten, about to rip, and her arms were breaking from holding the bob-omb with her racket.

With lightning speed, she switched her racket with her golf club, and swung the golf club at the bob-omb, striking it at the tip. The bob-omb began bouncing in front of Grodus and rolled towards him.

BAM!

Grodus swung his staff horizontally at the bob-omb, sending it at Peach, who was now armed with her tennis racket again. Peach swung the staff up vertically, spinning the bob-omb and landing it right near Grodus.

Suddenly, after bouncing once, the bob-omb shot forward, continuing to spin! Grodus could only react by holding his staff out to block it.

"A Top Spin?" asked Dark Grodus, grunting at the speed of the bob-omb.

But unfortunately for him, Peach was right above him, about to smash the bob-omb down at him. Hearts surrounded her racket as she was preparing her most powerful physical attack, this time to send the bob-omb flying straight down as quickly as possible.

"TAKE THIS!"

She smashed the bob-omb down, straight at Grodus's head. The bob-omb was about to explode near Dark Grodus. Grodus held the staff above him, ready to react…

But the bob-omb didn't come. It actually landed in front of him, rolling slowly towards him.

Peach actually didn't smash the bob-omb. She used a drop shot on it to trick Grodus.

Before Grodus reacted, the bob-omb exploded, sending him plowing through several trees.

"You… you… YOU!!!" He yelled, standing up. His head was slightly cracked, and he was far from done, but he was clearly angry that he had actually been damaged by Peach. "That's it, no more Mr. Nice Guy for the silly damsel, I'm going to kill you in the most brutal way possible!"

The two Grodus X formed around him once again; Peach's Mute spell had run out of time.

But Peach was already tired from the rally. Along with the damage she took from the explosions, she was out of breath.

"_Spark Plasma!_"

Several lightning bolts rain down upon Peach, releasing several explosions.

"_Spark Plasma! Spark Plasma! SPARK PLASMA! DIE YOU _LITTLE BITCH!!!" Dark Grodus screamed, raining more and more lighting in front of him. He smirked as the smoke cleared away…

But Peach was gone! Suddenly, his two Grodus X were gone after an explosion! He saw a turnip at the corner of his eye and an egg at the other…

"You know, you really shouldn't have left me frozen alone there…"

Yoshi was orange, pure orange, when he was in front of Grodus.

BAM!

Yoshi slammed his massive head upwards, into Grodus's chin, sending him up into the air. Before Grodus knew anything, Yoshi practically teleported above him with blistering speed!

BAM!

Yoshi slammed his head into Grodus, sending him plowing into the ground, leaving a great crater there. Peach, who was on his back, fed him a yellow shell in an instant, turning him yellow.

"And now, my finishing ground pound move!"

KABOOM!

Grodus barely rolled out of the way from certain death by Yoshi's ground pound, but he was sent flying by the shockwaves, stopped only by the trees of the forest.

"Ugh… you are… much stronger than I thought…" said Dark Grodus.

"Thanks, Peach, for the red pepper," said Yoshi. "It defrosts me slowly, and gives me the ability to move around really quickly."

"Hence his orange color," added Peach.

Grodus smirked, holding his staff out, panting. "Well then… seems like I can't hold anything back or else the master will get a hold of me…"


	114. Chapter 114: Dark King K Rool

Hack: I had a difficult decision to make before beginning this chapter: Finish up the Dark Grodus fight, or get halfway through each of the other fights? I decided on the latter, if you couldn't tell from the chapter title, for reasons you might see later. So you'll all be on the cliff waiting on how Peach and Yoshi beat, or get beaten by, Dark Grodus!

To be honest, I'm rather disappointed with how this fight turned out and the theme behind it. But as usual, it'll be two chapters long, and I promise you that it'll be much more interesting in its sequel!

* * *

**Chapter 114: Dark King K. Rool**

Thunder clapped in the dark sky as Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong faced off against the ugly, gray-scaled reptile King, Dark King K. Rool, on the dark pirate ship. The ship rocked slowly back and forth slowly along with the rhythm of the thunder, and the sea around them roared with crashing waves against the hull of the ship.

"So what's this ship about?" asked Diddy Kong.

"Ha! It's my ship, created specifically for me," said Dark Rool. "Equipped with all of my most popular weapons, along with my powered-body, there is no chance you have against me!" he roared.

Out of seemingly nowhere, Rool took out a black bazooka and aimed it at the two Kongs.

KABOOM!

A massive cannonball shot out from the bazooka, aimed at Donkey Kong. With amazing reflexes, Donkey Kong grabbed the cannonball and stood his ground with his amazing upper-body strength.

"Grrrrr… RAHHHHH!" Donkey Kong bellowed, throwing the cannonball to the side and across the ocean.

"You know," said Diddy Kong, who was on Donkey Kong's shoulders, chewing on a banana. "This guy is top in muscle strength. No smasher I know can beat this ape in terms of sheer muscles."

"Ha ha, it would be pathetic if you couldn't block that," said Dark Rool. "Now… the real fight begins!"

KABOOM!

"UWAAAGH!" DK bellowed. He was sent flying forward into the ship wall, his head stuck within the wooden wall. His back had a huge black spot smoking; the air smelled of burnt fur.

"What?" Diddy Kong whirled around to see a huge cannonball in his face.

KABOOM!

Diddy, too, was sent flying into the ocean. The cannonball flew sideways and hovered above Dark Rool.

"Don't be underestimating me, since those cannonballs aren't normal cannonballs," smirked Dark Rool. "The one you threw aside came back around like… a boomrung, they call it? Boomblast?"

"A boomerang!" DK corrected him, taking his head out of the wall and rubbing his burned back.

"Ah, yes, well there's a ton of gadgets I've got that you don't know anything about." Dark Rool slammed his fist on the ship ground.

There was a huge rumbling sound surrounding the ship. DK looked around, seeing nothing. He looked up to see several hundred huge cannonballs about to fall all over the ship…

"WHOA! OOO!" He bellowed like an ape, dodging the first cannonball from crushing his body. Another one came falling down right where he is, but he rolled backwards to dodge it.

He looked back for a split second to see a huge gaping hole in the ship to see a metallic basement… with holes in it.

_Those cannonballs creates freaking holes in steel? I don't think I can stop those with my bare hands!_

He looked back, dodging another cannonball. _The sea! There're none falling there!_ He leaped over the side of the ship and into the sea, away from the raining cannonballs.

"Now, now, silly apes, I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Dark Rool, sniggering. He took out a remote control and pressed a button. The entire ocean turned red, burning every living thing inside it. Steam smoked out of it, and the sands of the beach miles away instantly melted. The only thing on the sea that did not melt was the ship itself.

But… Dark Rool didn't hear the screams of agony he anticipated…

"Huh?" Halting the outpouring of cannonballs, he looked up to see Diddy Kong with two barrel-made jetpacks attached to his back, burning at the bottom. He was hovering over the ship, carrying a DK Barrel in one arm and a gun in the other.

"Surprised? I don't fall that easily," he said. He fired a peanut set aflame at Dark Rool which sped across the air at the speed of light.

With surprising reflexes, Dark Rool caught the peanut with his hand and crushed it! The fire inside the peanut instantly smothered in his hand, leaving only a tiny trace of smoke from Rool's scaly hand.

"What? But Funky Kong upgraded them to explosive peanuts…" mumbled Diddy.

"That tiny bullet won't do anything to my scaly skin!" snarled Rool, summoning another cannonball and throwing it at the floating Diddy Kong.

Diddy, still hovering in the air, threw the DK barrel he was carrying forward at the cannonball. The barrel burst, revealing Donkey Kong! Donkey Kong stopped the cannonball in midair with his hands and kicked it forward!

"Idiot!" said Rool, snarling as the cannonball whirled around in the air to aim itself at Diddy Kong again.

The cannonball was up to Diddy's face when his jetpacks exploded, sending him flying sky-high and soaring over the cannonball! Meanwhile, DK fell forward towards the ship to get up close and personal with Rool.

BAM!

Dark Rool caught DK's fist with his hand, his reptile hand noticeably larger than the ape's fist. Rool smirked, about to crush the fist.

_No! I'm not letting my hand get crushed again!_ DK thought to himself. He threw his other fist at Rool, only to let it get caught by Rool's other hand.

CLANG!

DK's foot went flying up into Rool's chin, making him grunt briefly. But his scales were as hard as metal, leaving a huge bruise in DK's foot.

Fortunately for DK, this sudden reaction was enough to let Dark Rool's hands lax a little bit, enough for DK to pry his hands loose before.

"Ah, so if you lose your fists, it's all over for you, eh?" said Rool, smirking.

Diddy Kong landed a few feet behind DK, successfully losing the cannonball. He took out his peanut guns and aimed them at Rool. "Donkey Kong! Let me help!"

"No! This is my fight!" said Dk, stretching out a furry arm to block Diddy Kong.

"Ah, a powerhouse to the end, I see. Still, you are no match for me."

Rool took out his cannon and let out a steam of turquoise gas at the two monkeys. Diddy Kong's eyes widened.

"Donkey Kong! Get out of the way!" he said, activating his jet packs again and grabbing DK's arm. "If you get into that gas, then your body will freeze on the spot and make you a sitting duck!"

Dk ran backwards, away from the gas. Rool ran so quickly through the gas (he's immune), that he practically teleported right behind DK!

"You know, I'm not slow either."

BAM!

"UGH!"

Rool's hand was on the back of DK's head and shoved it into the ground, destroying the wooden floor. They both fell into the steel room of the ship below. Rool slammed DK's face right into the steel floor, leaving a explosion of blood from DK's face. The floor was completely cracked.

"With the gas above us, I don't think your little pipsqueak will try to pursue us down here," said Rool. "And we can have a one-on-one, just as you wished." He cracked his knuckles, watching DK get back on his feet.

* * *

"Donkey Kong! Donkey Kong!" Diddy Kong cried, hovering above the ship now covered with blue gas. "Where are you?" The last he saw of his partner was a black shadow on the ship, followed by a loud crash, and the shadow disappeared.

"Ugh… he has to be inside the ship, but… I can't go through the gas…" he mumbled to himself. "What can I do?" He hovered to the side of the huge ship, examining every nook and cranny of the side. "No openings, no windows…" he knocked on the side. "And it's made of metal, no way I can make it through this… Wait…"

He spun around, grabbing a TNT barrel out of nowhere. "This has to work!" He set it aflame using the fire burning from his jetpack and threw it at the side of the ship…

KABOOM!

After the water and smoke cleared out, Diddy looked at the side of the ship he attempted to blow up. Nothing. No hole, no burn marks, nothing at all.

* * *

"No tricks," said Dark Rool, tossing his cannon to the side. "No nothin'. Just you and me. I'll show you how incapable you really are, little ape."

"Little? You'll regret underestimating my arm strength," said DK, his face almost unrecognizable from the broken bones. He brought his arm back, swinging it around and charging it.

But as he barely started to charge his punch, Dark Rool was up at his face in an instant!

BAM!

Rool shot forward his right arm into DK's chest, sending him flying into the steel wall, letting out a loud clang. DK fell to the ground in a slump.

"Urgh… Not bad…"

KABOOM!

DK slammed his hand into the ground, creating a light earthquake to trip over Dark Rool. DK was right over Rool, about to stab Rool's chest with his feet.

Barely milliseconds before DK's feet his Rool, however, Rool stuck out his disgusting, yellow bulging stomach to counter DK's stomp. With so much fat, DK's feet stuck into his stomach for a brief moment, before sending him flying into the ceiling like a trampoline.

KABOOM!

DK was still in the air when Rool took off his yellow crown and threw it upwards. Spinning like a spinning blade, the crown was about to hit DK's feet when DK swerved to the side and took off his tie.

"Have a taste of… your own medicine, oo!" bellowed DK, catching the crown with his durable tie and shooting it straight down back at Dark Rool like a slingshot.

BAM!

Unaware of DK being able to use his tie to counter his projectile, Rool took the blow into his stomach, the crown stabbing him in several spots.

"Ooof… Wow, that surprised me!" said Rool, in a mocking voice. He plucked out his crown from his stomach, releasing a few lines of blood down his bulging belly. "Haha, but it won't work again, you're only simple native apes."

Dark Rool jumped up into the air, following DK who was still up near the ceiling. He threw another punch, but DK swerved to the side, grabbing Rool's arm.

_Wha? His skin is so hard! I can't crush it!_

BAM!

With his incredible strength, Rool threw DK downward into the floor using his elbow. DK was lying down on the cracked metal floor, vulnerable for a split second. Rool flipped in the air, pointing his bottom down at DK, and shot down.

DK immediately flipped out of the way and dodged the initial ground pound, but to his surprise, there were huge violet shockwaves spreading across the entire room! DK got caught in the winds, the shockwaves cutting through his skin and slamming him into the walls.

"My shockwave attacks are much stronger than your ground slam attacks," scoffed Dark Rool.

Donkey Kong stood back up, panting.

"I'm tougher, stronger, and buffer than you. There's nothing you can do to defeat me!" taunted Dark Rool.

"Say that again in front of me," said DK, clenching his fists in anger.

"Oh, there's no need. I'll prove it, as I have been throughout this entire fight."

Both giants ran towards each other, fists raised…

BAM!

The moment their fists collided, Dark Rool instantly swung DK into the wall, sending wood splinters everywhere.

_No… I've lost… I can't do anything…_

He brought his fist back and shot it forward at DK's face.

POP!

BAM!

The fist whiffed, digging into the wall right next to DK's face.

"…huh?"

Diddy Kong was up in the air, with his peanut gun out. He had accurately shot a peanut at Dark Rool's arm, making it miss DK's face.

"Diddy! What are you doing?" DK cried out.

"I used a barrel from Tiny Kong to shrink myself and sneak into a small hole in the side of the ship," said Diddy.

DK plucked himself out of the wall. "Great. Just stay there, don't get in the way."

"But…"

"Don't!"

BAM!

DK shot a fist at Dark Rool again, who blocked it with his own hand. Before Rool did anything, though, DK lifted Dark Rool up into the air, ready to toss him aside.

KABOOM!

Suddenly, Dark Rool's body hardened and fell right on top of DK! Unable to support his weight, DK coughed out blood, and his ribs were completely shattered from the weight of Dark Rool.

"You're too weak. You can't even pick me up, weakling!" said Dark Rool.

"I… am… not… weak…" DK said desperately, before charging once again.

KABOOM!

Once again, DK was thrown into the side headfirst. He slumped to the ground and glanced up at Rool, who was standing above him.

"You wanted to prove you're stronger than me? Ha! What a prideful ape. But now I've shattered your pride. You can't fight."

"…no… RAHHHH!" DK cried, attempting another ape punch, but Dark Rool easily blocked it.

"It's all over, say good bye!" said Rool.

"Donkey Kong!"

BAM!

Another peanut hit Rool on the back. Though it didn't do any damage, it made Dark Rool turn around to see Diddy again standing up in an offensive stance.

"What the heck are you doing? Get back up!"

"I told you, don't interfere!" said DK. "This is my fight!"

"Oh yeah? Well haven't you forgotten… That we're a duo?" asked Diddy. "Because of your stupid pride, and because you just had to prove your strength, you got yourself into this situation!"

"No, but… if I can't do anything… what can you do?" DK asked desperately.

"He is right, his pride is completely shattered," said Dark Rool. "He can't do anything, and you're so much weaker… what can you do?"

"This is why we work together! You do what I can't do… and I'll do what you can't! This is no place for proving your strength, this is a fight for the universe!" replied Diddy. "Nothing beats our teamwork!"

DK smirked. "You're always the brains… And I'm the brawns…" he said, getting back on his feet with newfound confidence.

"You still have the guts to fight? You're so much weaker though!" said Dark Rool. "I've completely shattered your will to fight!"

"Maybe by myself, but if I've got Dids, then we'll keep fighting!" yelled DK, pounding his chest and bellowing into the air.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He yelled.


End file.
